GENERATION. 



defect extended for a century into feveral families, fo that 

 fome of all their defcendants llill continue ideots even in the 

 fotirth and fitlii generations. Perhaps the refemblanccs of 

 the mollier are ratlier the moll common. The ill-made Per- 

 fians have improved thcmfelves into a very beautit'id nation 

 by their repeated marriages with the celebrated Georgian fe- 

 males. The offspring of Negroes and Europeans partakes 

 of the charaftcrs of both parents in colour, form of the 

 lips, nofe, &;c. ; and we may obftrve in general, of all fnch 

 mixed breeds, that the children produced feem to conllitute 

 a mean between the father and mother. Pecuharilies of for- 

 mation are not uncommonly tranfniilted ; as a very hollow 

 palate, which I mvielf have fcen, and many others. A 

 man covered univerfally with hard, elaAic, cyhndrical, warty 

 txcrcfeences, begot fons and daughters with the fame detor- 

 mity. An excels in the number of thumbs (four) paffed 

 from the father to the children : and there are curious exam- 

 ples of fimilar fafts in individuals pofreffing^ five fingers on 

 each hand. Pliny mentions that Q. Horatius, who had this 

 Ih-ufture, begot two daughters refembling him in this refpeft. 

 A family mentioned by Reaumur is more remarkable : the 

 grandfather had a fupernumerary finger on each hand, and a 

 toe on each foot. His iirft fon produced tiiree children 

 with tlio fame peculiarity : the fecond, wlio had the ufual 

 number of fingers, but in whom the thumb was very thick, 

 and appeared as if compofed of two united together, had 

 three daughters with the fupeinumcrary members : the 

 third had the natural ftrufture. A daughter, with a very 

 thick thumb, brought forth a boy with the additional finger. 

 'That too much influence may not be attributed in this cafe 

 to the influence of the male, it may be obferved that another 

 daughter, who had large thumbs, produced fome fons with 

 fupernumerary members. Maupertuis has alfo recorded a 

 family of children diftinguilhedby this charafter, produced 

 by a mother with the fame peculiarity. The thick lip in the 

 Aullrian family was introduced by the man-iage of Mary of 

 Burgundy with Maximilian. It is affertedthat cafual muti- 

 lations, as blindnefs, Sec. have been tranfmitted to the off- 

 fpring, in horfes : and fome complain of the plan of em- 

 ploying Arabian ftalUons rather than mares for improving the 

 breed. There is a pecuUar breed of four-hcrned fheep, dc. 

 fcending from the female ; and another of pigs with undi- 

 vided hoofs. The difficulty of the fubjeft is increafcd by 

 the circumftance that thefe defeifls and pecuharities do not 

 in gen.'ral pafs to the offspring. Blind, lamcj or mutilated 

 parents have perfeft children. In the family with the fuper- 

 jiumerary fingers, already mentioned, feveral individuals had 

 the ordinary formation. Fowls without the rump breed 

 wiih the common kind of chicken, both with and without 

 that particular formation ; and the fame mother has children 

 like herfelf and the father, and others without fuch refem- 

 blance." Elementa Phyfiologiae, lib. 29, feci 8. 



The phenomena afforded by hybrid generations are cu- 

 rious. It is only in the cafe of animals very nearly allied in 

 their general characters that anv hybridoffspring is produced : 

 and this has the mixed charafrters of both parents. The re- 

 lations of women in Africa breeding with monkeys are not 

 fufHciently authenticated. " The mule (produced from the 

 mare by the afs) ^oes not,'' fays Haller, " feem to me to 

 be an afs, which however it refemblcs in its tail, ears, and 

 ^;5b(lip.acv, fince the form of the body, the ilrength and fizc, 

 the hocks, the hair, and colour are thofe of the mother, 

 ■The voice is more like that of the father, and tliere is a 

 farther refemblance of the afs in the peci liar hollow of the 

 larynx. As the mule feems to be ilronger and more 

 lively than the afs, fo the hijiny begotten by the ftalHcn 



on the (he-jfs, feems rather to follow tlie mother : it is faid 

 to have the ears of the horfe, the mane and tail of the afs ; 

 and to be fmaller than the mule. The offspring of the com- 

 mon flie-goat with the Angora he-goat has the long hair of 

 thefather; while that of the Angora female with the European 

 male has not that characler. The fine hair of the former 

 breed was continued in Sweden to the third generation. This 

 hc\ (hews the prevalence of the male, which, being born in 

 a warmer region, exceeds in ilature the European animal. 

 The pheafiint breeds with the common hen : the offspring 

 has the mother's colour, with the form of the father, whom 

 on the whole it moft; refembles. If the animal produced from 

 fuch a connection breeds again with the male pheafant, the 

 young are complete pheafants. When thcfe and various 

 other analogous fafts are compared, we remain in as much 

 doubt as before. It appears that the offspring is affected by 

 both parents, in fome cafes more by the father, and in others 

 more by tlie mother. And I think, that where the father is 

 greater in fize, his characters prevail, and vice vcrfa." Ibid." 

 Neither is it merely the form and external appearance that 

 are changed in the cafes of hybrid animals ; we have already 

 obferved that th; mule has the peculiar laryngeal cavity of 

 the afs ; and it is further known that this animal, and all 

 other hybrids, very rarely propagate : fo that we may con- 

 clude that fome general internal change is effefted in thefe 

 cafes. A more accurate anatomical defcription of hybrid 

 animals would probably contribute to illuftrate the fubjecfl ; 

 the fafts at prefent in our poffeffton lead us to conclude that 

 the foetus is not produced entirely by the mother or father, 

 that both parents contribute fomething to the offspring, and 

 that the new being is rather generated de novo than evolved. 

 In confidering the powers by which the admirable flrutture 

 of the animal frame is raifed, we encounter a vaft holl of the 

 moil wild and vifiouary hypothefes : we defcend, to ufe the 

 expreffion of Haller, from twilight into regions of utter 

 darknefs. In the firft place we rejeft entirely the operation 

 of fortuitous caufes : the notions concerning equivocal ge- 

 neration have been fufficiently refuted by modern naturahlls, 

 even in the lower orders of animals, where the phenomena, 

 on a fupcrficial view, tend to confirm the vulgar opinions, 

 and there is not even the fliadow of probability in favour of 

 fuch explanations in any of the higher claffes. 



In thefe times, however, men of confiderable reputation 

 have not been wanting to defend opinions very much refem- 

 bling the hypothefis of equivocal generation. Buffon has 

 contended that all the parts of an animal are not formed at 

 once, but fucccffively, by epigcnefis. His obfervations 

 conctrninc: the or'ranic molecules of the femen have been al- 

 ready noticed ; he even admits the formation of new bemgs 

 by putrefaftion and by the fortuitous concourfe of particles. 

 His affociate, Turberville Needham, does not allow of equi- 

 vocal generation, but fuppofes the cxillence of a power, 

 which forms the body from the fmalleft germ by the affmiila- 

 tion of aliment. He thinks that the primitive germs alone 

 are created at once, but that there are no compound germs 

 at all refembling animals. He quotes the phenom.era ob- 

 fervable in vegetable infufions ; and conceives that animal and 

 vegetable fubftances are the fame in their origin, and 

 admit of being changed into each other. The firft germ 

 of an organized body is very fimple, and not yet organ- 

 ized, nor poffeffmg any lineaments of the animal. Hence 

 the fmallell animalcula, as confifting of the fewcfl germs, 

 are formed the fooneil ; and thofe of a more compound 

 ftrufture, more flowly. The whole affair of vegetation 

 confifts of an expanllle force refiding in matter, and a 

 reHiling power. The former is perfettly elnilic, and exi:l- 



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