[59] It is not claimed that the imperfect foot was on the same side of the body as in the parent, and where parents had lost _all_ the toes of a foot, or the whole foot, the few offspring affected usually had lost only two toes out of the three, or only a part of one or two or three toes. Sometimes the offspring had toes missing on _both_ hind feet, although the parent was only affected in _one_. _One_ diseased ear and eye in the parent was "generally" or "always" succeeded by _two_ equally affected ears and eyes in the offspring (cf. _Pop. Science Monthly_, New York, xi. 334). The important law of inheritance at corresponding periods was also set aside. Gangrene or inflammation commenced in both ears and both eyes soon after birth (pointing possibly to infection of some kind); the epileptic period commenced "perhaps two months or more after birth," while the loss of toes had occurred before birth. In no case, as Weismann points out, is the original mutilation of the nervous system ever transmitted. Even where an extirpated ganglion was never regenerated in the parent, the offspring always regained the part in an apparently perfect condition. On the whole the conflicting results ought to be as puzzling to those who may attribute them to a universal tendency to inherit the exact condition of parents as they are to those who, like myself, are sceptical as to the existence of such a law or tendency. [60] The various results need to be fully and impartially recorded, and they should also be well tested and confirmed in proportion as they appear improbable and contrary to general experience. Professor Romanes has been carrying out the necessary experiments for some time past. [61] Natural History Museum, central hall, third recess on the left. [62] _Traite de l'Heredite_, ii. 489; _Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication_, i. 469. If injuries are inherited, why has the repeated rupture of the hymen produced no inherited effect? [63] Compare the three cases of crooked fingers given in _Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication_, ii. 55, 240. [64] _Ibid._, i. 460. Thus, where two brothers married two sisters all the seven children were perfect albinos, although none of the parents or their relatives were albinos. In another case the nine children of two sound parents were all born blind (ii. 322). [65] See pp. 179-182, _Evolution and Disease_, by J. Bland Sutton, to whom and to our mutual friend Dr. D. Thurston I am indebted for information on various points. [66] _Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication_, ii. 290; i. 454. MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS. TRUE RELATION OF PARENTS AND OFFSPRING.