536 
HEREDITARY INFLUENCE. 
gluten seemed dependent in some degree on its oily consti- 
tuent, and therefore the quality of the bread depends on the 
maturation of the seed. 
Dr. R. D. Thomson remarked that the value of bread 
might depend on the state of hydration of the starch and 
gluten ; but was doubtful as to the value assigned to the 
nutritious qualities of starch, as the French chy mists proved 
that the starch was often left undigested. 
Dr. Voelcker stated that he had arrived at similar experi- 
mental conclusions as Dr. Gilbert ; but while he acknowledged 
that starchy bread was mechanically the best, he combated 
Dr. Gilbert’s view, that this was the most wholesome kind of 
bread for the working man. He traced the phosphoric acid 
found by Dr. Gilbert in the bran to phosphorus contained 
as such in the gluten, Dr. Voelcker having found this element 
in caseine and legumine. 
Extracts from British and Foreign Journals. 
HEREDITARY INFLUENCE, ANIMAL AND HUMAN. 
The problem of hereditary transmission, physical and 
moral, although one of the most interesting of physiological 
problems, is also one of the most baffling. In spite of its ob- 
scurity, it fascinates the inquirer ; perhaps with all the greater 
force because of its obscurity, for, as Spinoza truly says, men 
cease to admire that which they fancy they understand : turn 
enim vulgus rem aliquam se satis intettigere existimat quum ipsam 
non admiratar. The question of hereditary influence has 
descended from antiquity encumbered with prejudices and 
deceptive facts, which seemed coercive and conclusive, but 
were in truth only one-sided ; and encumbered still more 
with hypotheses formed in ignorance of Nature’s processes. 
It has reached us a problem still ; every scientific mind not 
prepossessed by an hypothesis, nor content to disregard a 
mass of facts, must pronounce the answers hitherto proposed 
deficient in the primary requisite of comprehending all the 
phenomena. Nevertheless, answers abound. Every cattle- 
breeder, who rises to the height of a theory, has his theory 
on this complex matter, and acts upon it in the breeding of 
cattle and poultry. Every village gossip, every Mrs. Gamp, 
has her facts and her opinions, w hich, in expansive moments, 
she delivers wdth great confidence. Every physician has his 
theory, especially with reference to the transmission of dis- 
