138 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 

 „ ,„ Eudiments of various jnuscles haye been 



irag© 12, . ■ - ~ — 



obseryed in many parts of the human body ; 

 and not a few muscles which are regidarly present in 

 some of the lower animals can occasionally be detected in 

 man in a greatly reduced condition. Every one must 

 have noticed the power which many animals, especially 

 horses, possess of moving ^r^ twitching their jkin; and 

 this is effected by the p anniculus c arnosus, Eemnants 

 of this muscle in an eflBcient state are "found in various 

 "paSts of our bodies : for instance, theTEuscle onThe~fore- 

 head, by which the eyebrows are raised. 



p Some few persons have the power of con- 



tracting the superficial m uscles on their scalps ; 

 and these muscles are in a variable and partially rudimrait- 

 ary condition. M. A. de Candolle has communicated 

 to me a curious instance of the long-continued persistence 

 or inheritance of this power, as well as of its unusual 

 development. He knows a family in which one member, 

 the present head of the family, could, when a youth, 

 pitch several heavy books from his head by the movement 

 of the scalp alone ; and he won wagers by performing 

 this feat. His father, uncle, grandfather, and his three 

 children possess the same power to the same unusual der 

 gree. This family became divided eight generations ago 

 into two branches ; so that the head of the above-men- 

 tioned branch is cousin in the seventh degree to the head 

 of the other branch. This distant cousin resides in an- 

 other part of France ; and, on being asked whether he 

 possessed the same faculty, immediately exhibited his 

 power. This case offers a good illustration how persist- 

 ent may be the transmission of an absolutely useless 

 faculty, probably derived from our remote semi-human 

 progenitors, since many monkeys have, and frequently 



