Heredity. 1 75 



person. The result of that marriage was four chil- 

 dren ; the first, who was christened Salvator, had 

 six fingers and six toes, like his father ; the second 

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

 of them was deformed, showing a tendency to varia- 

 tion ; the third was Andre ; he had five fingers and 

 five toes, quite perfect ; the fourth was a girl, Marie ; 

 she had five fingers and five toes, but her thumbs 

 were deformed, showing a tendency towards the 

 sixth. 



" These children grew up, and when they came to 

 adult years, they all married, and of course it hap- 

 pened that they all married five-fingered and five- 

 toed persons. Now let us see what were the results. 

 Salvator had four children ; they were two boys, a 

 girl, and another boy : the first two boys and the 

 girl were six-fingered and six-toed like their grand- 

 father ; the fourth boy had only five fingers and five 

 toes. George had only four children ; they were 

 two girls with six fingers and five toes on the right 

 side, and five fingers and five toes on the left side, 

 so that she was half and half. The last, a boy, had 

 five fingers and five toes. The third, Andre, you 

 will recollect, was perfectly well formed, and he had 

 many children whose hands and feet were all regu- 

 larly developed. Marie, the last, who, of course, 

 married a man who had only five fingers, had four 

 children : the first, a boy, was born with six toes, 

 but the other three were normal." 



The appearance of the sixth finger in this man 

 illustrates the fact that all life, from the lowest forms 

 to man inclusive, is liable to variation ; some peculi- 



