XI PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 405 



ram and, I think, of some twelve or thirteen ewes. 

 Of this flock of ewes, one at the breeding-time 

 bore a lamb which was very singularly formed ; it 

 had a very long body, very short legs, and those 

 legs were bowed. I will tell you by and by how 

 this singular variation in the breed of sheep came 

 to be noted, and to have the prominence that it 

 now has. For the present, I mention only these 

 two cases ; but the extent of variation in the breed 

 of animals is perfectly obvious to any one who has 

 studied natural history with ordinary attention, or 

 to any person who compares animals with others 

 of the same kind. It is strictly true that there 

 are never any two specimens which are exactly 

 alike ; however similar, they will always differ in 

 some certain particular. 



Now let us go back to Atavism to the here- 

 ditary tendency I spoke of. What will come of a 

 variation when you breed from it, when Atavism 

 comes, if I may say so, to intersect variation ? 

 The two cases of which I have mentioned the 

 history give a most excellent illustration of what 

 occurs. Gratio Kelleia, the Maltese, married when 

 he was twenty-two years of age, and, as I suppose 

 there were no six-fingered ladies in Malta, he 

 married an ordinary five-fingered person. The 

 result of that marriage was four children; the 

 first, who was christened Salvator, had six fingres 

 and six toes, like his father; the second was 

 George, who had five fingers and toes, but one of 



