These are best explained as the result of natural selection and of the
diminution of the hand by sexual selection in the gentry. If the larger
hands of labourers' infants are really due to the inherited effects of
ancestral use, why does the development occur so early in life, instead
of only at a corresponding period, as is the rule? During the first few
years of its life, at least, the labourer's infant does no more work
than the gentleman's child. Why are not the effects of this disuse
inherited by the labourer's infant? If the enlargement of the infant's
hand illustrates the transference of a character gained later in life,
it is evident that the transference must take place in spite of the
inherited effects of disuse.