American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-06-22
Inherited Tricks.

The inheritance of tricks of habit is
one of the most perplexing of all the
phenomena of heredity. The less strik-
ing the habit the more remarkable, per-
haps, is its persistence as an inherited
trait. Giron de Buzareingues states
that he knew a man who, when he lay
on his back, was wont to throw his
right leg across the left; one of this
persons daughters had the same habit
from her birth, constantly assuming that
position in the cradle, notwithstanding
the resistance offered by the swaddling
bands. Darwin mentions another case in
his ''Variation Of Animals and Plants I'M
der Domestication''-a child had the
odd habit of setting its fingers in rapid
motion whenever it was particularly
pleased with any thing. When greatly
excited, the same child would raise the
hand on both sides as high as the eyes,
with the fingers in rapid motion as be-
fore. Even in old age he experienced a
difficulty in refraining from these ges-
lures. He had eight children, one of
whom, little girl, when four years of
age, used to set her fingers going, and
to lift up her hands after the manner of
her father. A still more remarkable
case is described by Gallon. A gentle
mans wife noticed that when he lay
fast aleep on his back in bed he had the
curious trick of raising his right arm
slowly in front of his face, up to his fore
head, and then dropping ii with jerk,
so that the wrist fell heavily on the
bridge of his nose. The trick did not
occur every night, but occasional
ly, and was independent of any
ascertained cause. Sometimes it
was repeated necessarily for an hour
or more. The gentleman's nose was
prominent, and its bridge often became
sore from the blows which, it received.
At one time an awkward sore was pro-
duced that was long in healing, on ac
count of the reoccurrence, night after
night, of the blows which first caused
it. His wife had to remove the button
from the wrist of his night-gown, as it
made severe scratches, and some means
were attempted of tying his arm. Many
years after his death, his son married a
lady who had never heard of the family
incident. She, however, observed pre-
cisely the same popularity in her hus-
band; but his nose, from not being par
ticularly prominent, has never as yet,
suffered fromthe blows. The trick does
not occur when he is half asleep, as,
for example, when he is doing in his
arm-charm; but the moment he is fast
asleep he is apt to begin. 1t is, as with
his father, intermittent; sometimes
ceasing for many nights, and sometimes
almost incessant during part of every
night. 1t is performed, as it was with
his father, with his right hand. One of
his children, girl, has inherited the
same trick. She performs it, likewise,
with the right hand, but in a slightly
modified form; for, after raising the
arm, she does not allow the wrist to
drop upon the bridge of the nose, but
the palm of the half-closed hand falls
over and down the nose, striking it rather
rapidly-a decided improvement on the
fathers and grandfather idea. The
trick is Intermittent in this girls case
also, sometimes not occurring for peri
DDS of some months, but sometimes al
most necessarily. Magazi inc.