O F A N I M A L S. 59 



extend by their extremities, which are foft and 

 fpongy, and, when they have once acquired fo- 

 hdity, they are incapable c-f farther extenfion : 

 Hence the iuperfluc us organic particles can on- 

 ly enlarge the ipongy extremities of bones ; and 

 this is trie reafon why the haunches, knees, Sec, 

 of eunuchs augment to a diiproportioned bulk. 



But the Itrongell proof of the truth of our 

 prefent dodtrine ariies from the refemblance of 

 children to their parents. Sons, in general, re- 

 femble their fathers more than their mothers, and 

 daughters have a greater refemblance to their 

 mothers than their fathers ; becaufe, with regard 

 to the general h: bit of body, a man refembles a 

 man more than a woman, and a woman refem- 

 bles a woman more than a man. But, as to par- 

 ticular features or h;.bi'S, children fometimes re- 

 femble the fatlier, fometimes the mother, and 

 fometimes both. A child, for example, will have 

 the eyes of the father, and the mouth of the 

 mother, or the colour of the mother and the fea- 

 ture of the father. Of fuch phaenomena it is im- 

 poirii)le to give any explication, unlefs \^'e admit 

 that both p<.rents have contributed to the forma- 

 tion of the child, and, confcquently, that there 

 has been a mixture of two feminal fluids. 



Thefe refemblanccs long embarrall'ed me, and, 

 till I had maturely confidered the fubjed of ge- 

 neration, led me into many errors and prejudices: 

 And it was not without much thought, a minute 



examination 



