I 4 8 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Hid 



and it has been frequently remarked that the offspring of such 

 individuals share in the same tendencies, and are exposed to 

 the same dangers in passing through life. The same hereditary 

 resemblance exists also with respect to certain habits of body. 

 j^Lhus if the parents are accustomed to the use of a certain 

 I species of aliment, the same will be found to agree with their 

 'offspring. Our infante would soon sicken and die if obliged"? 

 to take the food on which the infants of the Greenlander and) 

 Esquimaux subsist and thrive. s. 



Hidden Enemies. 



Nocturnal birds of prey fly without making the least noise. 

 They can, therefore, pounce unawares on their victims, seizing 

 them before they have any idea of necessity for escape. When 

 they lay hold of their prey it is immediately devoured. But 

 their large staring eyes cannot bear the light of mid-day. They 

 therefore remain hidden in their retreats while the sun is high, 

 and do not begin to hunt until the luminary has approached the 

 horizon, when they are able to distinguish with surprising 

 clearness the objects on which they prey. Some of a man's 

 human enemies resemble these birds. They never attack 

 openly in the daylight. They are sly and quiet, and pounce 

 upon their victim before he is aware of their approach, and when 

 surrounding conditions are such as to prevent his being able to 

 defend himself. BE. 



The Hideous Implies the Dangerous. 



There is a close connection between ugliness and vice. 

 Amongst human beings a hideous expression of face usually 

 implies a wicked person, excepting of course in cases where it is 

 accounted for by illness or accident. There are men whose bad- 

 ness is written in repulsive characters upon their complexions, 

 so that any observer may avoid them. Not only so. It curiously 

 happens that in some of the creatures whose rage is likely to be 

 fatal to man, there should be something in the physiognomy 

 which puts him on his guard. It is so in regard to the sharks ; 

 it is so in the crocodiles ; it is so pre-eminently in the venomous 



