HEREDITY. 311 



feet, we have strong evidence in the customs of the Chinese. 

 The torturing practice of artificially arresting the growth of 

 the feet, could never have become established among the 

 ladies of China, had they not seen that a small foot was 

 significant of superior rank — that is of a luxurious life — that 

 is of a life without bodily labour. There is evidence, 



too, that modifications of the eyes, caused by particular uses 

 of the eyes, are inherited. Short sight appears to be un- 

 common among peasants; but it is frequent among classes 

 who use their eyes much for reading and writing, and is 

 often congenital. Still more marked is this relation in 

 Germany. There, the educated are notoriously studious, and 

 Judging from the numbers of young Germans who wear 

 spectacles, there is reason to think that congenital myopia is 

 very frequent among them. 



Some of the best illustrations of functional heredity, are 

 furnished by mental characteristics. Certain powers which 

 mankind have gained in the course of civilization cannot, I 

 think, be accounted for without admitting the inheritance of 

 acquired modifications. The musical faculty is one of these. 

 To say that " natural selection " has developed it by pre- 

 serving the most musically endowed, seems an inadequate 

 explanation. Even now that the development and pre- 

 valence of the faculty have made music an occupation by 

 which the most musical can get sustenance and bring up 

 families; it is very questionable whether, taking the musical 

 career as a whole, it has any advantage over other careers in 

 the struggle for existence and multiplication. Still more 

 if we look back to those early stages through which the 

 faculty must have passed before definite perception of melody 

 was arrived at, we fail to see how those possessing the rudi- 

 mentary faculty in a somewhat greater degree than the rest, 

 would thereby be enabled the better to maintain themselves 

 and their children. There is no explanation but that the 

 habitual association of certain cadences of speech with 



certain emotions, has slowly established in the race an 

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