Outlines of physiology : with an appendix containing heads of lectures on pathology and therapeutics / by William Pulteney Alison.

Alison, William Pulteney, 1790-1859.

Date:: 1831

Credit: Outlines of physiology : with an appendix containing heads of lectures on pathology and therapeutics / by William Pulteney Alison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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$by animals when domesticated, and their return, in the course of a few generations, in a state of nature, to a single and uniform type *. But a more singidar fact, which appears well ascer- tained in regard to certain animals (dogs and horses), and probable in regard to the human species also, is the transmission, to the second and third generation, of habits not natural to the animal, but acquired by education and training f. Again, it is certain that various accidental circmn- stances affecting the mother during gestation, may influence the nutrition and subsequent vital actions of her offspring. It appears, from the observations of Geoffroy St Hilaire J, that preternatural adhe- sions of parts of the foetus to the membranes and the placenta, occur occasionally, and so confine and de- range the circulation in, and development of, the foetus, as to produce various kinds of monstrosities; and both from his observations and those of many others, it seems well ascertained, that such derange- ments of the vital actions within the uterus, may be produced either by injuries, or by sudden and violent mental emotions, when these are not so powerfid as to cause abortion. If the observation of Sir E. Ho]\iE § shall be confirmed, that nerves may be dis- * See Isidore St Hilaire, Considerations sur les Mani- miferes ; and Recherclies sur quelques changemens observes dans les Animaux Domestiques, &c., by Roulin, in Ann. des Sciences Naturelles, t. xvi. f See Roulin's paper, above quoted ; and the report on it, by Geoffroy St Hilaire. :J: Philosopliie Anatomique, pp. 208 & 527. § Philosophical Transactions, 1823.$