See Also: atavism(medicine)
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atavism(dictionary)
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medicine man(dictionary)
medicine(2)(dictionary)
medicine man(encyclopedia)
medicine(dictionary)

atavism (medicine)


atavism


The recurrence, or a tendency to a recurrence, of the original type of a species in the progeny of its varieties; resemblance to remote rather than to near ancestors; reversion to the original form.

<biology> The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or two. "Now and then there occur cases of what physiologists call atavism, or reversion to an ancestral type of character." (J. Fiske)

Origin: L. Atavus an ancestor, fr. Avus a grandfather.

Source: Websters Dictionary