CIVILIZATION AND THE RACE. 



WE have no intention of entering into the intricate 

 problem of the mode of progress, and will not ven- 

 ture to decide the mooted question of Weismann whether or 

 not acquired characteristics are inherited ; consequently 

 whether evolution is due to a selection of certain germs 

 fit for survival, or to the use and disuse of several organs 

 which will either strengthen or weaken certain qualities. 

 All rival theories on this subject agree as to the main facts. 

 They all accept the doctrine of evolution and vary only 

 as to the explanation attributing to nature different modes 

 of operation. The Lamarckian school explains evolution 

 mainly by use and disuse of organs. Function is first. 

 Function produces modifications in the structure of living 

 organisms, and these modifications become organic so as 

 to be inherited. The proposition of the inheritance of 

 acquired characteristics, however, has been challenged by 

 Weismann, who claims that no unequivocal instance that 

 could serve as a proof has yet been produced, for all ex- 

 periments of artificial mutilation have failed and thus favor 

 the opposite theory that the type of the race is permanent. 

 Moreover, evolution of new species takes place in instances, 

 such as ants and bees where a heredity of acquired charac- 

 ters is absolutely excluded. Neither the queen nor the 

 drone takes part in the labors of the hive and yet we can ob- 

 serve the origin of new species, in which the characteristics 

 of the worker-bee and the worker- ant are modified. Ant 

 communities as well as bee hives are like living organisms, 



