heredIty

[Latin here ditas, from heres Biol.: The tendency which there is in cach animal or plant, in all e ential characters, to resemble its parents, so as to be of the same species, and even variety, as they are, though minute differences are certain to arise. In some cases these differences themselves tend to be reproduced in succe ive generations: thus Mr. E. B. Poulton showed that "the strength of heredity" was such in cats with an abnormal number of toes, that between 1879 and 1883 the peculiarity had been traced through eight succe ive generations. In other cases the movement is in a contrary direction, producing a reversion to ancestral types. [REVERSION, ATAVISM.] "Some of the best illustrations of functional heredity are furnished by the mental characteristics of the human race." Herbert Spencer: Principles of Biology, § 82. Her-ě-fördş, s. pl . [From the county of Here ford shire, England, where they were first reared.] A breed of cattle having a dark red body with a white face and breast, and sometimes a line of white along the back. They have a thicker skin than the shorthorn, and long curly soft hair; the head is like that of a Devon [DEVON] but larger, the muzzle coarser, and the throat more fleshy. Here fords are good grazing and working animals. They are very hardy, and excellent for the butcher, but are not useful as dairy animals. 2170 hëre-In', adv . [Eng. here , and in .] In this; here. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us."-1 John, iv. 10. here-in-af-tër, adv. [Eng. herein, and after.] In this [writing, book, document, .] after; ap plied to something to explained, named, or described, at a future time.