Heredity : a psychological study of its phenomena, laws, causes and consequences / from the French of Th. Ribot.

  • Ribot, Th. (Théodule), 1839-1916.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Heredity : a psychological study of its phenomena, laws, causes and consequences / from the French of Th. Ribot. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    Knight has shown, experimentally, the truth of the proverb a good hound is bred so. He took every care that when the pups were first taken into the field they should receive no guidance fi-om older dogs. Yet the very first day one of the pups stood trem- bling with anxiety, having his eyes fixed and all his muscles strained at the partridges which their parents had been trained to point. A spaniel, belonging to a breed that had been trained to woodcock- shooting, knew perfectly well from the first how to act like an old dog, avoiding places where the soil was frozen, and where it was therefore useless to seek the game, as in such places there is no scent. Finally, a young polecat-terrier was thrown into a state of great excitement the first time he ever saw one of these animals, while a spaniel remained perfectly calm. In South America, according to Roulin, dogs belonging to a breed that has long been trained to the dangerous chase of the peccary, when taken for the first time into the woods, know the tactics to adopt quite as well as the old dogs, and that without any instruction. Dogs of other races, and unacquainted with the tactics, are killed at once, no matter how strong they may be. The American greyhound, instead of leaping at the throat of the stag, attacks him by the belly and throws him over, as his an- cestors had been trained to do in hunting down the Indians. Thus, then, heredity transmits acquired modification no less than natural instincts. There is, however, an important difference to be noted : the heredity of instincts admits of no exceptions, while in that of modifications there are many. It is only when variations have been firmly rooted; when, having become organic, they con- stitute a second nature, which supplants the first; when, like instinct, they have assumed a mechanical character, that they can be transmitted. If we note these differences in passing, we shall find them lead us hereafter to important conclusions. III. We have just shown, from indisputable facts, that heredity governs the transmission of instincts, whether acquired or primitive. It might seem that in this portion of our inquiry, which has to deal only with the facts, we ought to be content with that exposition of the case. But certain theories, put forth by distinguished writers