316 THE INDUCTIONS OF BIOLOGY. 



that of the parent whence it was derived, there will go the 

 repetition not only of the minor sex-traits of that parent but 

 also of any peculiarities he or she possessed, such as monstros- 

 ities. Since the two groups are nearly balanced, and since 

 inheritance is never an average of the two parents but a 

 mixture of traits of the one with traits of the other, it is not 

 difficult to see why there should be some irregularity in the 

 transmission of these monstrosities and constitutional tend- 

 encies, though they are most frequently transmitted only to 

 those of the same sex.* 



§ 84. Unawares in the last paragraph there has been taken 

 for granted the truth of that suggestion concerning Heredity 

 ventured in § G6. Anything like a positive explanation is 

 not to be expected in the present stage of Biology, if at all. 

 We can look for nothing beyond a simplification of the 

 problem; and a reduction of it to the same category with 

 certain other problems which also admit of hypothetical solu- 

 tions only. If an hypothesis which sundry widespread phe- 

 nomena have already thrust upon us, can be shown to render 

 the phenomena of Heredity more intelligible than they at 

 present seem, we shall have reason to entertain it. The ap- 

 plicability of any method of interpretation to two different but 

 allied classes of facts, is evidence of its truth. 



The power which many animals display of reproducing 

 lost parts, we saw to be inexplicable except on the assump- 

 tion that the units of which any organism is built have a 

 tendency to arrange themselves into the shape of that organ- 

 ism (§65). This power is sufficiently remarkable in cases 



* In addition to the numerous illustrations given by Mr. Sedgwick, here 

 is one which Colonel A. T. Fraser published in Nature for Nov. 9, 1893, 

 concerning two Hindoo dwarfs : — " In speech and intelligence the dwarfs were 

 indistinguishable from ordinary natives of India. From an interrogation of 

 one of them, it appeai-ed that he belonged to a family all the male members 

 of which have been dwarfs for several generations. They marry ordinary 

 native girls, and the female children grow up like those of other people. The 

 males, however, though they develop at the normal rate until they reach the 

 age of six, then cease to grow, and become dwarfs." 



