166 Inheritance of Acquired Characters 
nary male ass and bore a female colt which shows the 
same peculiarity as the mother. Its fat pad which covers 
the back and reaches almost half way down the ribs is 
not less than 5 cm. thick, clearly defined, and has an 
abrupt and perpendicular margin. It is to some extent 
a distinct and separate fat mass,—a true lipoma,—cer- 
tainly similar to those which according to Lombroso’s 
description are produced by burden bearing. It has the 
same character as the hump of the camel, is more or less 
developed according to the condition of nutrition of the 
animal, and appears exactly as though it had arisen by 
the pressure exerted by a saddle on the back. Also the 
hair is longer and thicker over the whole of the fat layer, 
which agrees likewise with the observations of Lom- 
broso on pack animals possessing such lipomas, and is 
like the hump of camels also, which is covered with 
thicker, longer wool. It is worthy of remark that this 
young she ass has never borne a saddle and inherits its 
peculiarity entirely from the mother, which proves be- 
yond doubt, that this peculiarity, acquired by pressure 
on the back, has been inherited.1*# 
Even though this single fact cannot decide the ques- 
tion finally we do not really see what objection Weismann 
and his school could urge against it. 
Finally we have the celebrated experiments of Brown 
Sequard on guinea pigs, proving the transmissibility to 
the young of effects produced in the parents by certain 
accidental lesions. 
Thus he has demonstrated that epilepsy, produced in 
one of the parents by section of the sciatic nerve or of a 
part of the spinal cord, is transmissible to the young. 
***Cattaneo: Le gobbe e le callosita dei cammelli etc. P. g—10. 
