96 GENETICS 



affect the somatoplasm under particular conditions, 

 as, for example, in cases of castration when those 

 somatic features called "secondary sexual charac- 

 ters" undergo profound modification. 



If the germplasm thus exercises a constant influ- 

 ence on the somatoplasm, why, it seems legitimate to 

 ask, may not the reverse be true and acquired somatic 

 characters leave their impress upon the germ-cells ? 







15. CONCLUSION 



But even granting the reverse to be true, that is, 

 that the somatoplasm affects the germ-cells, the in- 

 heritance of acquired characters is by no means 

 thereby established. 



In order to do this, the precise acquired character 

 in question, which indirectly exercised its influence 

 upon the germ, must be redeveloped, and, although 

 the germplasm might conceivably receive an influ- 

 ence from the somatoplasm and be affected by it in 

 a general way, it is a different matter entirely to 

 develop anew the verisimilitude of the character itself 

 which is supposed to have been acquired. 



It will be seen in subsequent pages, under the dis- 

 cussion of data furnished by experimental breeding, 

 that the weight of probability is decidedly against 

 the time-honored belief in the inheritance of acquired 

 characters. 



