28 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



badly "cowlicked." This peculiarity was trans- 

 mitted to a son, and through a daughter to 

 two grandsons. This fact has been frequently 

 alluded to in my hearing by two barbers who 

 were in the habit of cutting their hair, and who 

 complained that their heads were all alike and 

 that it was impossible to get the hair of any 

 one of them to lie down. A number of cases 

 are reported of the transmission through a num- 

 ber of generations of a lock of hair colored 

 differently most generally white from the 

 rest of the hair; and I have known, in a family 

 of close friends, of the transmission through 

 several generations of a singular red mark down 

 the center of the forehead, and which is casually 

 spoken of as a matter of course as the "H 

 blaze." 



In respect to character and temper a number 

 of proverbs, such as "like father like son," "a 

 chip of the old block," and many others, attest 

 the popular faith in the doctrine of heredity. 

 It has come to be the common belief in this 

 country that great men's sons are rarely worthy 

 of their sires, but opportunity and education 

 have so much to do with making men what we 

 in this new world term great, that this argu- 

 ment cannot be pressed very far. That the sons 

 of great men have sometimes preserved their 

 birthright intact despite the snares of inherited 

 greatness the annals of many countries prove. 



