332 NATURE AND LIFE. 
characteristics as mark the differences between races and 
varieties are transmitted with less certainty and uniformity, 
and the fact of the various transformations which these 
may undergo from generation to generation is precisely the 
one upon which a famous school of naturalists insists, in its 
attempt to demonstrate, within certain limits, as to extent, 
the utter change of organisms in the lapse of ages. Still 
less fixed and amenable torule is the reproduction of those 
characteristics, not so general as those of race and species, 
which may be looked on as peculiar to the individual. 
Thus, as characteristics increase in peculiarity and special- 
ty, escaping the law of heredity, the chances increase that 
children will differ from their parents. Yet observation— 
and that as ancient as man himself is—fixes the truth that 
these completely personal characteristics may be transmit- 
ted by generation. Within what limits, and under what 
conditions? ‘This isthe point that we must examine with 
the wariest caution, for a question does not exist about 
which there is a greater risk of slipping in perilous down- 
ward paths. — 
Heredity is peculiarly manifest in continuous existence 
of pathological and physiological conditions. It is espe- 
cially betrayed in the expression and features of the face. 
The ancients took note of this; hence, among the Romans, 
the nasones, labeones, buccones, capitones, etc. ‘The nose 
is perhaps that one of all the features which heredity most 
persistently maintains ; the Bourbon nose is famous. He- 
redity shows itself also in fecundity and longevity. In 
the old French nobility many families possessed immense 
vigor in propagation. Anne de Montmorency, who, when 
past seventy-five, was still strong enough to smash with 
his sword the teeth of the Scotch soldier who gave him his 
death-blow in the battle of Saint-Denis, was the father of 
twelve children. Three of his ancestors, Matthew (Ist), 
Matthew (2d), and Matthew (3d), hadamong them eighteen 
