Hereditary Diseases. 45 



the lymphatic and venous absorption produced in the parent by this 

 innutritions fossile stimulus. The petechise and vibices in the sea- 

 scurvy and occasional haemorrhages evince the defect of venous ab- 

 sorption; the occasional haemoptoe at the commencement of pulmo- 

 nary consumption, seems also to arise from defect of venous absorp- 

 tion ; and the scrofula, which arises from the inactivity of the lym- 

 phatic absorbent system, frequently exists along with pulmonary as 

 well as with mesenteric consumption. A tendency to these diseases is 

 certainly hereditary, though perhaps not the diseases themselves ; thus 

 a less quantity of ale, cyder, wine, or spirit, will induce the gout and 

 dropsy in those constitutions, whose parents have been intemperate 

 in the use of those liquors ; as I have more than once had occasion to 

 observe. 



Finally the art to improve the sexual progeny of either vegetables 

 or animals must consist in choosing the most perfect of both sexes, that 

 is the most beautiful in respect to the body, and the most ingenious 

 in respect to the mind; but where one sex is given, whether male or 

 female, to improve a progeny from that person may consist in choosing 

 a partner of a contrary temperament. 



As many families become gradually extinct by hereditary diseases, 

 as by scrofula, consumption, epilepsy, mania, it is often hazardous 

 to marry an heiress, as she is not unfrequently the last of a diseased 

 family. 



