PECULIABITIES TRANSMITTED 53 



second husband, to a certain extent, would 

 get the leavings of the first husband. 



Certain great stallions of the thorough- 

 bred and trotting horse families have pe- 

 culiarities and habits which they as surely 

 transmit to their descendants as the black 

 man transmits his black skin or the white 

 man transmits his white skin. 



These traits are not as apparent among 

 the stallions of today as they were thirty 

 years ago, as intelligent breeders have, by 

 judicious crossing, outbred these tempera- 

 mental defects, as well as the physical de- 

 fects. But, in the human, these traits of 

 character, and hereditary physical traits 

 and peculiarities of families, are almost as 

 apparent today as they were one hundred 

 years ago. There has been no scientific 

 breeding to eliminate them. Often we find 

 that a son or daughter of exceptionally 

 fine parents is a brainless good-for- 

 nothing. In nine cases out of ten, if you 

 will trace back his or her ancestry, you 

 will find it is a case of heredity. 



In the horse, some families are inclined 

 to kick with the hind feet and others to hit 



