HEREDITARY INFLUENCE. 
591 
may be said to belong to the species and to be transmitted 
with the specific type, we have abundant evidence of the 
individual transmission of what are called instinctive pecu- 
liarities, or acquired habits. Thus Girou relates the case of 
a sporting dog, taken young from its mother and father, who 
was singularly obstinate, and exhibited the greatest terror at 
every explosion of the gun, which always excites the ardour 
of the species. On the owner expressing his surprise to the 
gentleman from whom he received the dog, he was told that 
nothing w T as more likely, for the dog’s father had the same 
peculiarity. How the vicious disposition of horses is trans- 
mitted all breeders know. Again, we know that the vice of 
drunkenness is very apt to be inherited ; and that the 
passion for gambling is little less so. “A lady with w 7 hom 1 
was very intimate,” relates Da Gama Machado, “ and w T ho 
possessed great wealth, passed her nights in gaming; she 
died young, from pulmonary disease. Her eldest son was 
equally addicted to play, and he also died of consumption at 
the same age as his mother. His daughter inherited the 
same passion and the same disease.”* Other and more 
crapulous vices are inherited, and are exhibited in cases 
where the early death of the parents, or the removal of the 
children in infancy, prevents the idea of any imitation or 
effect of education being the cause. That the “ thieving 
propensity ” is transmitted from father to son through 
generations, all acquainted wdth police-courts know. Gallf 
has cited some striking examples; and that murder, like 
talent, runs in families, is too notorious to need illustrations 
here. Dogs taught to “ point ” or “ set,” transmit the talent. 
The American dogs inherit the peculiar cunning necessary 
to hunt the peccari without danger. F. Cuvier has observed 
that young foxes, in those parts of the country w^here traps 
are set, manifest much more prudence than even the old 
foxes in districts where they are less persecuted. Again, 
birds born in a country inhabited by man inherit their alarm 
at his presence ; but travellers narrate that the same species 
encountered on uninhabited islands manifest no alarm, and 
are knocked down as easily as a gentleman in Fleet Street ; 
they soon, however, learn to dread man, and this dread they 
transmit. As these last illustrations may be relegated to the 
vague region of instincts, we will confine ourselves to more 
individual and accidental characteristics. Thus Girou 
relates how a man known to him had the habit of sleeping 
on his back, with his right leg crossed over the left ; one of 
* * Theorie des Ressemblance3,’ p. 154, quoted by Lucas. 
t * Functions du Cerveau,’ i, p. 207. 
