The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1890-09-06
HEREDITARY TRANSMlSSIONS,
Discourse ON "a Living Subject by Man
with a Grceu Patch

HtRtDl | ARY IRANSMlSSl0NS. !
Dhcourse ON "a Living Subject by a Man
with a Green Patch.
The hereditary transmission of physc
al and mental traits aud tendencies, Fl, NJ
generation to generation, in men and aui
mails and insec $, and every thing that
with green patch oven one eye, as he
dangled his feet from a North river dock
and watched the cratic flight Of dragon
fly hunting insects here and there and up
and down over the water A short man
chewing cigar butt, whose extinct crat
er emitted a tremendous odor, leaned
against an adj lcent pile. lie stroked !
his chin retlectively tor Il moment and !
ther, in tones $ artlingIy mid for IA
man oho had brnvcd 81 fierce 4 cigar, !
said:
is it? How long has it been g ing
oL?'
"Always.' replied the man with the
green patch. why, it WAS going on !
when all the men who think and d. I've /,
aud run for office to day all the fish that |
swim and beasts that walk and birds that |
| fly and all the insects that il,t in the sun
beam and wggle i'll the mud puddle, aud
| gyrate and gkmnast C ate whruever they
| COLL hang please, were but pIutuplast!c
atoms i'll chaotic Grid. cor S AID ecns
ago"
go way" exclaim, d The sholt man. Il
want to know
"Certainl1," said the man with the
green patch That d. gun tly but me
in mind of it And every time see "a
CHI cken am reminded of il. Sixty years
ago, on my grand ather' ) farm at / o clock
in the afternoon Of July 10 / strange dog
ran in among " fl ok OF clickens. causing
them cackie and II in all directions in -
state of the utmost alarm. IL as 0uly Il
trillipg thing, and was forgotten almost
as quickly as it had Gccurle ed. At exact
ly 4 O'Clock on the afternoon of July 10
the next year. however, the chickens
began to cackle and ilu,tcr and fly in all
directions III the same high state of
alarm that had marked them VIXEN the
strange dog had so suddenly agitated
them just one year before to minute
This time there was no dog. The singu-
lar part of this case is that every year
since then, promptly at . clock p. NJ Of
July 10, the chickens on my graudialher's
farm are thrown into the same state CT
intense alarm that the dog threw IL, IN
{ in sixty years ago most striking c tse
of hereditary transmission OF both men
tai and phi, steal tendency il the rate OF
! iowIs.e
; Aud nle the tne Same chickens hat
the dog scareG?' ASK, Il NE S;loit man.
"Ch, certainly. said the man with the
green patch, grittiug his teeth. And
my grandfather, WHO was onl, 80 ,ears ole!
at the time The dog scared the ci:ickcns,
still shells the corn and ;teds them, while
the dog is cheertuly running il churuing
machine on a neigh boring farm
"My, my" excl"im' d the snort m ~.
] "And do dragon flies do it, to, ~
"Do whar?" snapp d the man with the
patch
Get scared by dogs, and ty ny and
cackle, and do it over again at 4 p NJ ON
the 9th day OF every Jull?''
We man with the green pa Gu looked
ouV mournfully across the water. IL
hummed plaintivc air and then spoke
up YEARLY:
SIN my native town Their. is = y Gu i; I
\ race of dragon flies. Oncr, some ,e4I>
\ ago, a common, ordinary dragon II, II ~.
: through window in my rative Tow
into room where foolish yea an
struck at it with towel and knocked al
Y a portion of one of its wings, diXah ing il
A friend of mine who " something Of 4
genius, was present, ard liz took up IT,
injured insect and deity r,piiI.d the
damaged wing with tissue paper ana
mucilagF. He tossed the fly uu: ct the
window and it took wing. L. r.Se in tn,
air. but flew round ami refund in big
circle. 1t couldn't go straight ahead.
! wing heavier than the other il mrn"i =
it, and that. of course, mad it inp,ssi
BILE for the Insect to fly nthcrw Use than H.
circle, no matter ii i II " continually
was preparing IT, get IA long handled
scoop net to capture the insect 50 be
could remedy his Imperfect j 10 on the
wing another big dragon II i'w through
the same window and the SAN tDbiiSh
person " no La hit She lir>t Il, knock al
the second down. Tn" ri Try done ;hi>
one was more serious, ioI The whole OF
the fly was severed c.nae to the in
sect's shoulders. The p)or Il. crawl, d
abOut i'll il piteously Erlpl, SIS $ ate. My
friend turned his attention to this
way stuck one end OF = wooden t""thpick
in the place the body had been krocktd
from. That toothpick h.rpeued to be
just the prnpe.' weight and balance, and
up the drdgor II. rose and scared cut OF
the windbw with his wooden body as
gracefully aud easily as lie had ever
scared before, the d Il rnu fly with the
mended vii still d scrihing aim less cir
Giles i'll the air The Oregon H. with the
wooden body saw the other one, and
hung poised over il, as if tIIirg o make
out what its qIecr antics meant. 1t didn't
take him long to get it through him, for
he flew over and got directly in front of
the other one as it came around in one of
its circles with the end of his wooden
body turned toword it. The fly Of unev
emily balanced wing came along. 1t grab
bel the tip of the toothpick in its mouth.
Away went the insect with tie wooden
body, towing the other one with it
stl aight for its one.
"Of course, that made good deal of
talk in my native place but it Was soon
forgotten. But next year, when dragon
HES app AIRED, folks motto that there
were two new kinds Oae of these had
one wing heavier than the other, and
they flew around II day in clicks The
other kind had a long, slender; pointed
body. People were surprised; but when.
along toward evening, they saw the dra
gon Ii es with the long, slender bodies
back up iu front of the ones that Il wv all
day in ii clcle, aud tow them away home
| ap If mild uLau | saw that