1883 .] Correspondence. 623 
birds be paired, the one or the other is often strong enough in 
“ something ” to produce its own colour in the offspring. I have 
crossed a yellow Jacobine (a prize bird) with a common blue hen, 
and in one nest I have had blue young ones like the mother, and 
in the next yellow ones with white head and tips (and a very poor 
ruff). This shows a wavering of the two constitutions, though 
I believe some pairs breed a constant result in colour, often 
neither like one nor the other. The age of the respective birds 
seems to have an effedt on the sexes as well. 
And let us look amongst ourselves : it is in every one’s ob- 
servation to see, in different families, how some all <{ take after 
their mother,” or “ after their father,” in particular physical and 
physiological items, often all on one side. There is a stronger 
— what ? in one parent. Nor is it absolutely a matter of health, 
as many know to their sorrow ; for evil seems to dog the steps 
of man far more than good does ! 
It may be admitted, one would think, that this “ cross ” — so to 
speak — of the sexes has its influence in producing varieties. 
The first variety must have originated in the same kind of indi- 
viduals, when there were no opportunities for crossing ; and if 
it must have been so once, who can say how important a faCtor 
it has been since ? 
Two constant proportions of atoms in chemistry will give a 
constant result ; vary one ever so slightly, and you get nothing, 
or a very distind result — a “ new variety.” And although it 
seems very far-fetched to consider human beings as two chemical 
elements, it is easy to see, howsoever one may acquire a slight 
over-proportion of this mystic “ something,” the result must be 
a new variety. — I am, &c., 
D. Yewdall Cliff. 
MODERN INVENTIONS ANTICIPATED. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science . 
Sir, — Having read with much pleasure, in your September issue, 
Col. A. Parnell’s article on the “ Origin of Lightning Rods,” I 
was surprised to find that, according to M. A. De Rochas 
(“ La Nature,” 1883, p. 381), Franklin must have been antici- 
pated in very remote antiquity. It is said there that the ancient 
Etruscans understood the art of guiding the lightning. Servius 
relates that in ancient times the priests caused their sacrifices to 
be ignited by lightning. Tullus Hostilius on such an occasion 
was struck dead because he negledted the precautions given by 
Numa. 
