INHERITANCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 270, 12 November 1881, Page 1

INHERITANCE.

Under date of July 16, Mr Charles Darwin contributes the following lc I " Nature " : — " The tendeocy in aty oew character or codification to re appear in the cff.piiog at the aame a^e at which it first -appeared ia the parents,' or io od6 of the p.reots, ia of so much importance in reference to t.e diver. i- ; tied characters proper to tha larvtc ol mbny animals at successive ages, ttat aireo6t any iresh instance ia worth put-ing on record. I hava given m.ny such instances under the terua of ' iv- ! beritahce at corresponding age 6.' No doubt the Uct of variations beio^ sottieiimea inherited at an earlier sge than that at which they first appeared! —a form of ioheritaece wliica o_B' been called by eouoe n.turalisla 'accelerated inheritance' — ia aluio.t equally^ important, for, aa waa shown iv ihe^ first edition of the ' Origin of Species,' all the leading faeta of embryology cam be explfeined by these two form. oP mberi*ance ccinoined with the laat oP many variations arising at a somewhat laic stage of life. A gcoj iogt_BC3 oi : inheritaccc at a corresponding a^e hub lately been communicated to ua. by Mr J, P. Bi.hop of Parry, W jooiing, Njw York, United States : — T_e hair of a gtmleman of American birth (who.c Dficoe I suppress) began to turn gray when he was twenty jears old, and in the course cf icur or live year, became perfectly white. He ia now sevoat)five yetsrs old, and res_i_s plenty of hair oa his head. His wife had dark bair, which, at the o^e cf seventy, was utl.y eprickled with gray. Tbey had four children, tul daughters, now grown to wooattihGoJ. The eldest ..ughier began to turn gray at about twenty, and her hair" at thirty was perfectly white. . A Becood daughter be^au to turn gray ai the same time, and her hair ia cow almost white, Tho two remaining daughters have not inherited the' peculiarity. Two of the maternal aunts of tht father of these children ' beg.n to turn grey at an early age, so tbat by middle life their hair waa white.' Hence tbe gentleman in que.tion spoke of the change of color of his own hair aa a ' family peculiarity.' "Mr Eiahop has also given me a c-.se of icberiiaoce ot another kind, namely, of a peculiarity which arose, as it nppeara, from an injury, accompanied by a diseased stale of tbe patt. This latter fact seems to be an importact element io all Bueh cases, as I have elriewbere endeavored to show. A weotSemao, when a boy, had tLe skin of tosh lhumb3 badly cracked irom exposure to cold combiaed wi h bjuj .iis£Bße. HU thumbs swelled gieat*y and remained in this state for v loug time. When tbey he.led they were mis-shapen, and the nails ever uLerw&rds wtre singularly narrow, short, snd thick. The gentleman had four children, of whom tho eldeit, Sarah, had bet. ber tluu>.-9 ac. ntiils lifea her

f itber'-j ; tha third c_it<% also a daughter, bad cne tbumr) .icail.rly d.forme i. The two otber children, a hoy &n 1 y ir!, were cormal. Th. great-^raaucl-ildrt. n of this geotlamau were all cormal. Mr Bi.hop believes th-»S ;he old gentieuii?n was correct in at'.ribuaa-j- tha etute of his thumbs to col J, td ied by r-.kiu disssße, &b ha positively asserted cimt his thumbs were not origin. Ily missnap.c, aod there was no record of a. y previous i.heriled tendency of the kind to Lis family He had six brothers an. si.tere, who lived to h.ve is mi I eg, some of thetn very \arje famiiie?, acd in toae was there any tr.C9 of d.ioicoity ia tbeir limbs.