ATAVISM

n. A2t’a%v-i2zm. Lat., atavism us (from atavus, a forefather). Fr., atavisme. Ger., Atavism us, Stammähnlichkeit, It., Sp., atavismo. 1. Resemblance to one’s ancestors. [A, 385.] 2. The reap] ‘ance of one of the primitive types in the descendants of parents of different races. [A, 385.] 3. That manifestation of ancestral influence which consists in bodily or mental peculiarities inherited from an ancestor more remote than the father and mother; the reappearance of family traits after they have been in abeyance for one or more generations. [H; K: L, 149.]—Direct a. Fr., atavisme directe. A. occurring in the direct line of descent. [B, 121.]—Indirect a. Fr., atavisme indirecte. A term used by Sedgwick to expre the phenomenon of the transmi ion of peculiarities not presented by, or prevailing in the family of, either parent, but po e ed by a male by whom the mother had previously been impregnated; the transmi ion of the peculiarities of a woman's first husband to her children by a succeeding husband. [A. Lingard, ** Lancet,” Apr. 19, 1884, p. 703.)