ACQUIRED CHARACTERS AND MUTATIONS 73 



" No," I answered,' " but from your story I see that you 

 yourself are persistent, not musical. Where was her musical 

 taste to come from if neither you nor her father had it ? 

 You mustn't blame her. Laws of nature are responsible." 



This true story shows how it is 

 that uninformed people often expect 

 to secure what they desire without 

 any reference to the laws of nature. 



For three hundred years and over, 

 Chinese mothers bound the feet of 



CHINESE SHOES Two AND ONE HALF INCHES LONG 



The one on the left has been worn ; the one on the right shows how the foot was 

 bandaged and cramped above the shoe 



their young daughters, and from generation to generation 

 those feet were cramped from girlhood to middle age, old age, 

 and death. -Surely, if ever an acquired character 1 was to be 



1 An acquired character is secured by an individual during his own life, 

 not by inheritance. Professor Weismann was the first scientist to give the 

 words acquired character their present meaning. He says, " Acquired char- 

 acters are those which result from external influence upon the organism, in 

 contrast to such as spring from the constitution of the germ." 



