ATAVISM, OR REVERSION. 



UNDER the name of "atavism" is now de- 

 scribed what was once more commonly spoken 

 of as "reversion/' and in common speech as 

 "throwing back" i. e., the special form of 

 inheritance where the individual inherits some 

 peculiar trait of a remote ancestor (Latin 

 Atavus). We have had occasion already to no- 

 tice some instances of this in the course of the 

 general inquiry into the laws of inheritance. 

 It is now necessary to briefly particularize. 



Darwin says ("Animals and Plants Under 

 Domestication/' Vol. II, p. 41), in treating of 

 this subject: "When the child resembles either 

 grandparent more than its immediate parents 

 our attention is not much arrested, though in 

 truth the fact is highly remarkable; but when 

 the child resembles some remote ancestor or 

 some distant member in a collateral line, and 

 we must attribute the latter case to the descent 

 of the members from a common progenitor, we 

 feel a just degree of astonishment." And while 

 this is true and the mind that is not familiar 

 with the singular and startling operation of the 

 laws of "atavism" is often wonder-struck at 

 the results, yet those who are familiar with the 



(39) 



