HEREDITARY INFLUENCE. 
665 
no ambiguity in the results ; if antimony be present it re- 
mains fixed on the platinum. The apparatus I have em- 
ployed is simple, a twelve-ounce phial, with a mouth about 
an inch in diameter, having a tight cork, furnished with a 
funnel tube reaching nearly to its bottom, and a small tube 
drawn out to a point for the discharge of the gas. The zinc 
I employed was in the state of small lumps or in grains, and 
the sulphuric or muriatic acid very diluted, viz. one volume 
of acid to from 15 to 20, and even 25 volumes of water. 
Extracts from British and Foreign Journals. 
HEREDITARY INFLUENCE, ANIMAL AND HUMAN. 
( Continued from p. 595.) 
These illustrations, apart from their interest, teach us 
to be cautious in generalizing from a few facts, however 
striking, in questions so complex as all biological questions 
are. Let us, however, continue to call on Mr. Orton for 
facts. He quotes a letter from Dr. George Wilson (w 7 hose 
opinion on any subject will be worth hearing) to Dr. Harvey, 
respecting the produce of the Manx cat and the common 
cat. The Manx cat has no tail, and is particularly long in 
the hinder legs. “You will see,” says Dr. Wilson, “from 
the facts communicated, that where the Manx cat was the 
mother, the kittens had tails of a sort ; where the Manx cat 
w r as the father, three fourths of the kittens had no tail.” 
Mr. Orton also quotes a communication made to him by 
Mr. Garnett, of Clitheroe : 
“From these I select those pertaining to the Muscovy duck and some 
hybrids produced between it and the common duck. You are aware that 
the Muscovy drake exceeds in a striking degree the duck in size ; the drake 
weighing from 8 to 9^ lbs., while the duck weighs only from 3 to 4 lbs. 
Hybrids produced from the Muscovy drake and common duck followed this 
peculiarity of the male parent as to the relative size of the male and female 
hybrids ; the male weighing from 5 to 6 lbs., the females not half as much. 
On the other hand, the difference in the size of sexes when the hybrids 
were the produce of the common drake and the Muscovy duck, was not 
apparent.” 
A valuable observation, certainly. Mr. Orton adds the 
.following of his own. He placed a Cochin cock with his 
common hens : 
XXIX. 
85 
