214 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 
weeping willows, etc. The transmission of acquired diseases, 
such as consumption, madness, and albinism, likewise form 
very striking examples. Albinoes are those individuals who 
are distinguished by the absence of colouring matter, or 
pigments, in the skin. They are of frequent occurrence 
among men, animals, and plants. In the case of animals of 
a definite dark colour, individuals are not unfrequently born 
which are entirely without colour, and in animals possessing 
eyes, this absence of pigment extends even to the eyes, so 
that the iris of the eye, which is commonly of a bright or 
intense colour, is colourless, but appears red, on account of 
the blood-vessels being seen through it. Among many 
animals, such as rabbits and mice, albinoes with white fur 
and red eyes are so much liked that they are propagated in 
great numbers as a special race. This would be impossible 
were it not for the law of the transmission of adaptations. 
Which of the changes acquired by an organism are trans- 
mitted to its descendants, and which are not, cannot be 
determined @ prior, and we are unfortunately not ac- 
quainted with the definite conditions under which the 
transmission takes place. We only know in a general way 
that certain acquired qualities are much more easily trans- 
mitted than others, for example, more easily than the 
mutilations caused by accidents. These latter are generally 
not transmitted by inheritance, otherwise the descendants of 
men who have lost their arms or legs would be born without 
the corresponding arm or leg; but here, also, exceptions 
occur, and a race of dogs without tails has been produced 
by consistently cutting off the tails of both sexes of the dog 
during several generations. A few years agoa case occurred 
on an estate near Jena, in which by a careless slamming of 
