The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother

by George H. Napheys

In general, it may be said that there exists a tendency on the part of the father to transmit the external appearance, the configuration of the head and limbs, the peculiarities of the senses and of the skin and the muscular condition; while the size of the body, and the general temperament or constitution of the child, are derived from the mother. Among animals, the mule, which is the produce of the male ass and the mare, is essentially a modified ass having the general configuration of its sire, but the rounded trunk and larger size of its dam. On the other hand, the hinny, which is the offspring of the stallion and the she-ass, is essentially a modified horse, having the general configuration of the horse, but being a much smaller animal than its sire, and therefore approaching the dam in size as well as in the comparative narrowness of its trunk. The operation of this principle, though general, is not universal. Exceptions may easily be cited. In almost every large family it will be observed that the likeness to the father predominates in some children, while others most resemble the mother. It is rare to meet with instances in which some distinctive traits of both parents may not be traced in the offspring.

HAIR.

Peculiarities in the colour and structure of the hair are transmitted. Darwin mentions a family in which, for many generations, some of the members had a single lock differently coloured from the rest of the hair.

TEMPERAMENT.

The law of inheritance rules in regard to the production of the temperament. The crossing of one temperament with another in marriage, produces a modification in the offspring generally advantageous.

FERTILITY.

A peculiar aptitude for procreation is sometimes hereditary. The children of prolific parents are themselves prolific. It is related that a French peasant woman was confined ten times in fifteen years. Her pregnancies, always multiple, produced twenty-eight children. At her last confinement she had three daughters, who all lived, married, and gave birth to children,—the first to twenty-six, the second to thirty-one, and the third to twenty-seven. On the contrary, sometimes a tendency to sterility is found fixed upon certain families, from which they can only escape by the most assiduous care.

LONGEVITY.

In the vegetable kingdom, the oak inherits the power to live many years, while the peach-tree must die in a short time. In the animal kingdom, the robin becomes grey and old at ten years of age; the rook caws lustily until a hundred. The ass is much longer-lived than the horse. The mule illustrates in a striking manner the hereditary tendency of longevity. It has the size of the horse, the long life of the ass. The weaker the ass, the larger, the stronger, and the shorter-lived and more horse-like the mule. It is also a curious and instructive fact, that this animal is the toughest after it has passed the age of the horse: the inherited influence of the horse having been expended, the vitality and hardiness of the ass remain.

It is universally conceded, that longevity is the privileged possession of some lineages. That famous instance of old age, Thomas Parr, the best authenticated on record, may be mentioned in illustration. It is vouched for by Harvey, the distinguished discoverer of the circulation of the blood. Parr died in the reign of Charles the First, at the age of 152, after having lived under nine sovereigns of England. He left a daughter aged 127. His father had attained to a great age, and his great-grandson died at Cork at the age of 103.