The conclusion that peloria is not a mere monstrosity, irrespective of any former state of the species, is supported by the fact that this structure is often strongly inherited, as in the case of the peloric Antirrhinum and Gloxinia and sometimes in that of the peloric Corydalis solida. (13/72. Godron reprinted from the 'Memoires de l'Acad. de Stanislas' 1868.)
Lastly I may add that many instances have been recorded of flowers, not generally considered as peloric, in which certain organs are abnormally augmented in number. As an increase of parts cannot be looked at as an arrest of development, nor as due to the redevelopment of rudiments, for no rudiments are present, and as these additional parts bring the plant into closer relationship with its natural allies, they ought probably to be viewed as reversions to a primordial condition.]
These several facts show us in an interesting manner how intimately certain abnormal states are connected together; namely, arrests of development causing parts to become rudimentary or to be wholly suppressed,--the redevelopment of parts now in a more or less rudimentary condition,--the reappearance of organs of which not a vestige can be detected,--and to these may be added, in the case of animals, the presence during youth, and subsequent disappearance, of certain characters which occasionally are retained throughout life. Some naturalists look at all such abnormal structures as a return to the ideal state of the group to which the affected being belongs; but it is difficult to conceive what is meant to be conveyed by this expression. Other naturalists maintain, with greater probability and distinctness of view, that the common bond of connection between the several foregoing cases is an actual, though partial, return to the structure of the ancient progenitor of the group. If this view be correct, we must believe that a vast number of characters, capable of evolution, lie hidden in every organic being. But it would be a mistake to suppose that the number is equally great in all beings. We know, for instance, that plants of many orders occasionally become peloric; but many more cases have been observed in the Labiatae and Scrophulariaceae than in any other order; and in one genus of the Scrophulariaceae, namely Linaria, no less than thirteen species have been described in this condition (13/73. Moquin- Tandon 'Teratologie' page 186.) On this view of the nature of peloric flowers, and bearing in mind certain monstrosities in the animal kingdom, we must conclude that the progenitors of most plants and animals have left an impression, capable of redevelopment, on the germs of their descendants, although these have since been profoundly modified.
The fertilised germ of one of the higher animals, subjected as it is to so vast a series of changes from the germinal cell to old age,--incessantly agitated by what Quatrefages well calls the tourbillon vital,--is perhaps the most wonderful object in nature. It is probable that hardly a change of any kind affects either parent, without some mark being left on the germ. But on the doctrine of reversion, as given in this chapter, the germ becomes a far more marvellous object, for, besides the visible changes which it undergoes, we must believe that it is crowded with invisible characters, proper to both sexes, to both the right and left side of the body, and to a long line of male and female ancestors separated by hundreds or even thousands of generations from the present time: and these characters, like those written on paper with invisible ink, lie ready to be evolved whenever the organisation is disturbed by certain known or unknown conditions.
CHAPTER 2.XIV.
INHERITANCE continued.--FIXEDNESS OF CHARACTER--PREPOTENCY--SEXUAL LIMITATION --CORRESPONDENCE OF AGE.
FIXEDNESS OF CHARACTER APPARENTLY NOT DUE TO ANTIQUITY OF INHERITANCE. PREPOTENCY OF TRANSMISSION IN INDIVIDUALS OF THE SAME FAMILY, IN CROSSED BREEDS AND SPECIES; OFTEN STRONGER IN ONE SEX THAN THE OTHER; SOMETIMES DUE TO THE SAME CHARACTER BEING PRESENT AND VISIBLE IN ONE BREED AND LATENT IN THE OTHER. INHERITANCE AS LIMITED BY SEX. NEWLY-ACQUIRED CHARACTERS IN OUR DOMESTICATED ANIMALS OFTEN TRANSMITTED BY ONE SEX ALONE, SOMETIMES LOST BY ONE SEX ALONE. INHERITANCE AT CORRESPONDING PERIODS OF LIFE. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PRINCIPLE WITH RESPECT TO EMBRYOLOGY; AS EXHIBITED IN DOMESTICATED ANIMALS: AS EXHIBITED IN THE APPEARANCE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF INHERITED DISEASES; SOMETIMES SUPERVENING EARLIER IN THE CHILD THAN IN THE PARENT. SUMMARY OF THE THREE PRECEDING CHAPTERS.