indication of my theory, which, contrary to
that universally received and more closely allied to the 'exploded'
Mendel's Law, ascribed the appearance of such monsters not to any
strict physiological process but to a hitherto unclassified law of
embryology which I had hoped would one day take its place in science
under my name.

"Armed with the results of my Abyssinian inquiry, I next proceeded to
Syria; for among certain desert tribes I hoped to find further
evidence to support my theory. In short, in the Arabic tradition of
the jackal-man (which is allied to the medieval and universal belief
in the were-wolf or _loup-garou_) and in the Indian myth of the woman
who, possessing an ordinary human form by day, assumes that of a
tigress by night, I thought I detected a profound truth.

"Since my life-work is destroyed, I am egotist enough to desire that
credit for it should not accrue to another. I do not propose,
therefore, more than lightly to touch upon the Damar Greefe Law, but I
may say that in its essentials it is this:

"Such strange hybrids do actually occur periodically and in rare cases
survive; but their animal proclivities which are physically
demonstrable, and the possession of certain animal attributes (as the
furry body of the _cynocephalyte_, the claws and teeth of the
jackal-man, etc.), are _physical_ reflections of a _mental_ process
taking place in the female parent."

He glared at me wildly, as if anticipating contradiction, but Gatton
and I remaining silent:

"There is no physical association," he continued, "between the hybrid
and that creature whose qualities and peculiarities he seemingly
inherits. I have proved by a long series of elaborate experiments that
a _true_ hybrid of this description is a physiological impossibility.
But that a _false_ hybrid such as I have indicated may appear is a
fact which does not rest solely upon my studies amongst the Amharun,
nor upon my subsequent inquiries throughout Assyria, Somaliland and
the middle valleys of the Yellow River."

He paused, and suddenly turning a glance of the hawk-like eyes upon
me:

"As an explorer of the Dark Continent, Mr. Addison," he said, "and
also, if I mistake not, something of an Orientalist, the significance
of this itinerary may possibly be apparent to you. But I waste time:

"The discovery which triumphantly crowned my life's work by what some
may deem poetic justice was destined also to destroy it. This brings
me to the