The English Darwinian met with only one case in which the offspring of a woman by a second husband, who was a white man, showed the influence of her first husband, who was a negro. Mr. Herbert Spencer would seem to have been more successful. In _The Contemporary Review_ for May, 1893, Mr. Spencer gives the result of his own enquiries as to the effect on a white woman's subsequent progeny of a previous union with a negro, and he quotes the opinion of a "distinguished correspondent," that information given to him many years ago was to the effect that "the children of white women by a white father had been _repeatedly_ observed to show traces of black blood, in cases where the woman had previous connexion with [i. e., a child by] a negro." Mr. Spencer refers also to Professor Marsh as authority for such a case, and to the opinion of several medical professors who assured him, through Dr. W. J. Youmans, that the alleged result "is generally accepted as a fact." He gives as authoritative testimony the following statement by Dr. Austin Flint, taken from his "Text-book of Human Physiology:" "A peculiar and, it seems to me, an inexplicable fact is, that previous pregnancies had an influence upon offspring. This is well known to breeders of animals. If pure blooded mares or bitches have been once covered by an inferior male, in subsequent fecundations the young are likely to partake of the character of the first male, even if they be bred with males of unimpeachable pedigree. What the mechanism of the influence of the first conception is, it is impossible to say; but the fact is incontestable. The same influence is observed in the human subject. A woman may have, by a second husband, children who resemble a former husband, and this is particularly well marked in certain instances by the color of the hair and eyes. A white woman who has had children by a negro may subsequently bear children to a white man, these children presenting some of the unmistakable peculiarities of the negro race." This phenomenon would alone seem to answer the question of the transmission of acquired characters in the affirmative, for its explanation is to be found in the facts brought out by Darwin, as to the action of foreign pollen on the structure of the mother plant; in relation to which Professor Romanes remarks: "When one variety fertilizes the ovules of another not unfrequently the influence extends beyond the ovules to the ovarium, and even to the calyx and flower-stalk, of the mother plant. This influence, which may affect the shape, size, colour, and texture of the somatic tissues of the mother, has been observed in a large number of plants belonging to many different orders."[89:A] May we not have here the explanation of the fact, which has frequently been pointed out, that husband and wife show a tendency to grow like each other, both physically and mentally, the resemblance after a long married life being sometimes very striking?