The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-31
HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION.
Discourse on a Living Subject by q
Man With a Green Patch.

Discourse on Living Subject by
Man With a Green Patch.
From the New York sun
"The hereditary Transmission of physical
and mental traits and tendencies, from gen
GRAFTON to generation, in men and animals
and insects, and everything that lives, is
queer, amt itm said man with a green
patch over one eve, as he dangled his feet
from North river dock and watched the
erratic flight of dragon fly hunting insects
here and there and up and down over the
water. short man, chewing a cigar
butt, whose extinct crater emitted a ire
mendous odor. leaned against an adjacent
pile. He stroked his chin refiectiyely for a
moment, and then, in tones startlingly mild
for man who had braved SO fierce cigar,
said:
is it9 How long has it been going onY"
"Alwaysm replied the man with the green
patch. "Why, it was going on when all
the men who think and delve and run for
Office to-day; all the fish that swim and
beasts that walk and birds that fly, and all
the insects that fit in the sunbeam and wig
gle in the mud puddle, and gyrate and
gymnasticate wherever they COLL haug
please. were but protoplastic atoms in a
chaotic world cons and cons ago."
go way" exclaimed the short man, 81
want to know"
Certainly" said the man with the green
patch. That dragon fly put me in mind of
it. And every time l see chicken l am re-
minded of it. Sixty years ago, on my
grapdfather'S farm, at o'clock in the after
noon of July 10, strange dog ran in among
flock of chickens, causing them to cackle
and futter and fly in all directions in state
of the utmost alarm. 1t was only a trifing
thing, and was forgotten almost as quickly
1 8 A c,1o
on the afternoon of July 10 the
next year. however, the chickens
began to cackle and fiutter and hv
in all directions in the same high state of
alarm that had marked them when the
strange dog had SO suddenly agitated them
just one year before to minute This time
there was no dog. The singular part of this
case Is that every year since then promptly
at 4 O'CLOCK p. N. of July 10 the chickens on
my grandfather's farm are thrown into the
same state Of intense alarm that the dog
threw them in sixty years Rgo-a most
striking case OF hereditary transmission Of
both mental and physical tendency in the
race of fowls"
And are they the same chickens that the
dog scaredY asked the short man.
20, certainly.' said the man with the
green patcn, gritting his teeth. And my
grandfather, who was only 80 years old at
the time the dog scared the chickens, still
shells the corn and feeds them, while the
dog is cheerfully running a churning ma
chine on neighboring farm"
MY, nYw exclaimed the short man.
'And do dragon flies do it, too!"
do whatN snapped the man with the
patch.
Get scared by dogs and fly up and
cackle, and do it over again at O'Clock D.
m. on the 10Th day of every July 2"
The man with the green patch looked out
mournfully across the water. He hummed
plaintive air, and then spoke up YEARLY:
I'm my native town there is peculiar
race of dragon flies. Once, some years
ago, common, ordinary dragon fly flew
through a window in my native town into
room where foolish peas mt struck at it
with towel. and knocked off portion Of
one Of its wing, disabling it. A friend of
mine, who was something of a genius, was
present, and he took up the injured insect
and deity repaired the damaged wing with
tissue paper and mucilage He tossed tie
fly out of the window, and it took wing.
1t rose in the air, but flew round and round
in big circle. 1t couldn't go straight
ahead. My friend the genius had made the
one wing heavier than the other i'll mend
ing it, and that, of course, made it impoSsi-
sible for the insect to fly otherwise than in
a circle, no matter if it flew continually for
thousand years. While nv friend was
preparing to get long-handed SCOOP net
to capture the insect, SO he could remedy his
imperfect job on the wing, another big
dragon fly flew through the same window,
and the same foolish person who had
hit the first fly knocked the second
down. The injury done this one was more
serious, for the whole of the fly was severed
close to the Insects shoulders. The
poor fly crawled about in pite0usly help
less state. My friend turned his attention
to this second case, and in mechanical way
stuck one end of wooden toothpick in the
place the body had been knocked from.
That toothpick happened to be just the
proper weight and balance, and up the
dragon fly rose and scared out of the window
with his wooden body as gracefully and
easily as he had ever scared before, the drag
on fly with the mended wing still describ-
ing aimless circles in the air. The dragon
fly with the wooden body saw the other
one and hung poised over it as if trying to
make out what its queer antics meant 1t
didn't take him long to get IL through him.
for 1t 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 toward it. The fly of unevenly bal
anced wing came along. 1t grabbed the
end of the toothpick in its mouth. Away
went the insect with the wooden body tow
ing the other one with it, straight FIR its
home.
"Of course that made good dsal of talk
IN my native place. but it was soon forgot
ten. But next year. when dragon flies APP
peared, folks noticed that there were two
new kinds. One of these had one wing
heavier than the other, and they flew
around all day In circles The other kind
had long, slender. pointed body. People
were surprised; but when, along toward
evening, they saw the dragon flies with the
long. slender body back up In front Of the
ones that new ali day in circle. and tow
them away home, am drawing u mild
vhea say that they were astoundsd. Was
thaFe ever clearer case OF hereditary
Transmission than tnatF
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