c w,. ti.] PROCESSES IN HEREDITY. 5
in features and disposition from their earliest years, though brought into the world under the same conditions and subsequently nurtured in an almost identical manner. It may be that some natural peculiarity does not appear till late in life, and yet may justly deserve to be considered natural, for if it is decidedly exceptional in its character its origin could hardly be ascribed to the effects of nurture. If it was also possessed by some ancestor, it must be considered to be hereditary as well. But "Natural" is an unfortunate word for our purpose ; it implies that the moment of birth is the earliest date from which the effects of surrounding conditions are to be reckoned, although nurture begins much earlier than that. I therefore must ask that the word " Natural" should not be construed too literally, any more than the analogous phrases of inborn, congenital, and innate. This convenient laxity of expression for the sake of avoiding a pedantic periphrase need not be, accompanied by any laxity of idea.
Transmutation of Female into Male Measures.-We shall have to deal with the hereditary influence of parents over their offspring, although the characteristics of the two sexes are so different that it may seem impossible to speak of both in the same terms. The phrase of " Average Stature" may be applied to two men without fear of mistake in its interpretation ; neither can there be any mistake when it is applied to two women, but what meaning can we attach to the word " Average " when it is applied to the stature of two such different
