10 



INHERITANCE. 



Chap. XII 



authority of Dr. Osborne/ 9 the following curious instance of strong in- 

 heritance: a family of sixteen sons and five daughters all had eyes 

 " resembling in miniature the markings on the back of a tortoiseshell cut." 

 The mother of this large family had three sisters and a brother all similarly 

 marked, and they derived this peculiarity from their mother, who belonged 

 to a family notorious for transmitting it to their posterity. 



Finally, Dr. Lucas emphatically remarks that there is not one single 

 faculty of the eye which is not subject to anomalies ; and not one which is 

 not subjected to the principle of inheritance. Mr. Bowman i 

 the general truth of this proposition ; which of course does not imply that 

 all malformations are necessarily inherited; this would not even follow 

 if both parents were affected by an anomaly which in most cases was 

 transmissible. 



Even if no single fact had been known with respect to the 

 lheritance of disease and malformations by man, the evidence 

 ould have been ample in the 



case of 



And this 



might have been expected, as horses breed much quicker than 

 man, are matched with care, and are highly valued. I 

 have consulted many works, and the unanimity of the belief by 

 veterinaries of all nations in the transmission of various morbid 



tendencies is surprise 

 give in detail many 



Authors, who have had wide experience, 

 ;ular cases, and assert that contracted 



feet, with the numerous contingent evils, of rino-bones. curbs 



o 



iplints, spavin, founder and weakness of the front le 



broken and 





& 



melanosis, specific ophthalmia, and 



blindness (the great French 

 as to say that a 



y Huzard 



going 



far 



that a blind race could soon be formed), crib-bitin 

 jibbing, and ill-temper, are all plainly hereditary. Youatt sue 

 up by 



saying " there is scarcely a malady to which the 



subject which is not hereditary ; " and M. Bernard adds 



) is scarcely a disease which does 



the doctr 



ther 



gaining new advocates every day 



So 



w Dr. Osborne, Pres. of Royal College land/ vol. v. p. 511. 'Encyclop. of 



Eural Sports/ p. 279. Girou de Buza- 



of Phys. in Ireland, published this case 

 in the ' Dublin Medical Journal ' for 

 1835. 



20 These various statements are taken 

 from the following works and papers ; 



reignues, 'Philosoph. Phys.,' p. 215. 

 See following papers in ' The Veteri- 

 nary:' Roberts, in vol. ii. p. 144; M. 



Marrimpoey, vol. ii. p. 387 ; Mr. Kar- 



Youatt on • The Horse/ pp. 35, 220. keek, vol. iv. p. 5 ; Youatt on Goitre in 



Lawrence, ' The Horse/ p. 30. Karkeek, 



Dogs, vol. v. p. 483 ; Youatt in vol. vi. 



in an excellent paper in « Gard. Giro- pp. 66, 348, 412 ; M. Bernard, vol. xi. 

 nicle/ 1853, p. 92. Mr. Burke, in p. 539 ; Dr. Samesreuther, on Cattle, in 

 ' Journal of R. Agricul. Soc. of Eng- vol. xii. p. 181 ; Tercivall, in vol. xiii. 



