Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles DarwinDarwin, Charles
Science
Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles Darwin
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology)
Gait, gestures, voice, and general bearing, are all inherited, as
the illustrious Hunter and Sir A. Carlisle have insisted. My father
communicated to me some striking instances, in one of which a man died
during the early infancy of his son, and my father, who did not see
this son until grown up and out of health, declared that it seemed to
him as if his old friend had risen from the grave, with all his highly
peculiar habits and manners. Peculiar manners pass into tricks, and
several instances could be given of their inheritance; as in the case,
often quoted, of the father who generally slept on his back, with his
right leg crossed over the left, and whose daughter, while an infant in
the cradle, followed exactly the same habit, though an attempt was made
to cure her. I will give one instance which has fallen under my own
observation, and which is curious from being a trick associated with
a peculiar state of mind, namely, pleasurable emotion. A boy had the
singular habit, when pleased, of rapidly moving his fingers parallel
to each other, and, when much excited, of raising both hands, with the
fingers still moving, to the sides of his face on a level with the
eyes: when this boy was almost an old man, he could still hardly resist
this trick when much pleased, but from its absurdity concealed it. He
had eight children. Of these, a girl, when pleased, at the age of four
and a half years, moved her fingers in exactly the same way, and, what
is still odder, when much excited, she raised both her hands, with her
fingers still moving, to the sides of her face, in exactly the same
manner as her father had done, and sometimes even still continued to do
so when alone. I never heard of any one, excepting this one man and his
little daughter, who had this strange habit; and certainly imitation
was in this instance out of the question.
INHERITED DISEASES.
[Animals and
Plants, vol.
ii, page 54.]
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