92 THE PEKPEIUATION OF LIVING BEINGS, 



prominence that it now has. For the present, I men- 

 tion only these two cases ; but the extent of variation 

 in the breed of animals is perfectly obvious to any one 

 who has studied natural history with ordinary atten- 

 tion, or to any person who compares animals with 

 others of the same kind. It is strictly true that there 

 are never any two specimens which are exactly alike ; 

 however similar, they will always differ in some cer- 

 tain particular. 



Now let us go back to Atavism, — to the hereditary 

 tendency I spoke of. What will come of a variation 

 when you breed from it, when Atavism comes, if I 

 may say so, to intersect variation ? The two cases of 

 which I have mentioned the history, give a most excel- 

 lent illustration of what occurs. Gratio Kelleia, the 

 Maltese, married when he was twenty-two years of age, 

 and, as I suppose there were no six-fingered ladies in 

 Malta, he married an ordinary five-fingered person. 

 The result of that marriage was four children ; the 

 first, who was christened Salvator, had six fingers 

 and six toes, like his father; the second was George, 

 who had five fingers and toes, but one of them w T as 

 deformed, showing a tendency to variation ; the third 

 was Andre ; he had five fingers and five toes, quite 

 perfect; the fourth was a girl, Marie; she had five 

 fingers and five toes, but her thumbs were deformed, 

 showing a tendency towards the sixth. 



These children grew up, and when they came to 

 adult years, they all married, and of course it hap- 

 pened that they all married five-fingered and five-toed 

 persons. Now let us see what were the results. Sal- 

 vator had four children ; they were two boys, a girl, 

 and another boy : the first two boys and the girl were 



