48 
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 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. 
«T. 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 {see note by 
myself on Sight, p. 43) are : —Acuteness of sight. Delicacy 
of hearing. Aptitude to music. Neatness in handicrafts, 
and taste in design. Love of pursuits connected with the 
water: thus the South-Sea Islanders swim well early in 
childhood ; is this really a natural or is it wholly an acquired 
faculty ? Power of path-finding : the stories told of this 
