84 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



be admitted, that they are more to the purpose than those 

 given in favour of the theory of a specific difference between 

 human races a theory chiefly supported by the assumption 

 that the same peculiarities have been transmitted through 

 an indefinite period of time. If we are justified from the 

 few instances of prolific hybridity, in contesting the law that 

 unlimited prolificacy only occurs within the species, we might 

 be equally justified in explaining the origin of races from the 

 exceptional transmission of deformities. At any rate, the cases 

 of transmission of individual peculiarities are sufficient to point 

 out the way in which the origin of various races was possible, 

 though we may not be able to learn how it actually occurred. 

 The facts of the transmission of acquired physical or mental 

 qualities to the offspring, present very interesting psychological 

 phases in their progressive transformation and development of 

 a people. In turning now our attention to man, we must re- 

 mind the reader that we do not require the analogy presented 

 by animals, since hereditary transmission in the human race 

 can be proved by many instances. Although we shall here 

 only enumerate those cases in which deformities have shown 

 themselves hereditary, they cannot be considered as invalid; 

 for though it may be objected, that the physical differences of 

 mankind are not to be considered as morbid deviations from a 

 normal type, this fact may be admitted without any weakening 

 of the argument. In the first place, it is not only in many 

 instances impossible to decide whether an inherited peculiarity 

 is a morbid one or not, but the fact itself of the transmission of 

 deformities can also be looked upon as a special case of the 

 general rule, that, deviating peculiarities' of the organization 

 are frequently transmitted to the offspring, so that each instance 

 yields a new contribution to the proof of such transmission. 



That family peculiarities of various kinds are regularly trans- 

 mitted, is a well-known fact. The most frequently quoted 

 instances of this kind are, the thick lip of the House of Haps- 

 burg since its alliance with the Jagellones ; the tall life-guards 

 of Frederic I. of Prussia, who produced a large sized progeny. 

 Colour and quality of the skin are also transmitted, and so are 

 temperament, acuteness, idiocy, or deficiencies in the organs of 



