48 
Acquired physical traits are usually, if not always, intrans¬ 
missible, but the Existence of exceptions to the rule has been 
asserted. 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 :—i. How far stature, strength, 
beauty, descend in the families of the chiefs. 2. How far 
intellectual ability or cunning in those of the priests and 
wizards. 3. Whether albinism, erythrism, or other abnor¬ 
malities {see p. 60) are thus transmitted, and to what pro¬ 
portion of the children in a family, or if not to children, 
whether they are ever transmitted to grandchildren. 
4. Whether instances occur in which a tribal mark or some¬ 
thing 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. 
J. B. 
Further Notes on the same Subject . 
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 all the 
care he can between natural and acquired gifts, by seeking- 
appropriate cases and investigating them thoroughly. 
Children of savage races educated in the houses of mission¬ 
aries, quite away from their own people, deserve close study, 
to see how far the natural character, apart from the tra¬ 
ditions, &c., of their race, persists in- showing itself. Also 
the children of foreign slaves who are bred up by barbarians. 
The large families of polygamatous parentage afford good 
studies for heredity. Among the hereditary characteristics 
of a race which admit of precise testing are :—Acuteness of 
