21 
No. XIV.—HEREDITY. 
By Dr. BEDDOE, E.B.S. 
With regard to original or congenital physical and mental 
qualities, it is not the existence and importance of heredity 
that is questionable, but its extent, limits, and conditions. 
Acquired physical traits are usually, if not always, intransmis¬ 
sible, but the existence of exceptions to the rule has been as¬ 
serted. As regards acquired mental qualities little inquiry has 
hitherto been made. 
Where any system of castes exists, or where the intercourse 
of the sexes is rigidly regulated, there is much room for obser¬ 
vations of this kind. 
Examine, for example :—1. How far stature, strength, beauty 
descend in the families of the chiefs. 2. How far intellectual abil¬ 
ity or cunning in those of the priests and wizards. 3. Whether 
albinism, erythrism, or other abnormalities (XI.) are thus trans¬ 
mitted, and to what proportion of the children in a family, or 
if not to children, whether they are ever transmitted to grand¬ 
children. 4. Whether instances occur in which a tribal mark or 
something like it appears naturally in a child. 5. Whether a 
natural aptitude for a particular art appears in the children of 
a caste who practise that art. 6. Whether there is any power of 
resistance to malarial poison transmitted from parent to child 
in certain tribes or clans. 
Further Notes on the same Subject. 
By Francis Gr alton, F.B.S. 
The nature of man appears to be as plastic as that of any 
domestic animal, and equally to admit of differentiation. The 
inquiries of a traveller might often show the directions in 
which the tendency to a spontaneous establishment of new 
breeds is most common ; but he must distinguish with the ut¬ 
most care between natural and acquired gifts, by seeking appro¬ 
priate cases and investigating them thoroughly. Children of 
savage races educated in the houses of missionaries, quite away 
