224 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 



confused impression that Darwinism denies " the 

 racial value of good nurture," or under the influence 

 of the cynical suggestion that the " brutal creed " 

 of those who doubt the transmission of acquired 

 characters has behind it the motive " to keep its 

 money in its pocket and its power over the poor." 



There are probably many like ourselves who have 

 no radical unwillingness to return as penitents to the 

 Lamarckian faith, if that does not mean, as it need 

 not, any recantation of Darwinism. But we have 

 to be converted first, and the often cited experi- 

 ments made by Dr. Kammerer will not suffice. It 

 appears to us, for instance, that Dr. Agar's experi- 

 ments, which were just as careful as Kammerer's, 

 point to the opposite conclusion. That is, at any rate, 

 how they seem to Agar to point. Kammerer's work 

 is very striking and very carefully conducted, but 

 to execute a volte-face with decency we surely 

 require more than one set of experiments by one 

 investigator. The kind of result that Kammerer 

 obtained may be briefly illustrated. He found that 

 a yellow background and a damp atmosphere in- 

 creased the yellowness of the common spotted 

 salamander, and that the change was to a consider- 

 able degree transmitted. The offspring, which are 

 hatched within their mother, start their career 

 nearly, but not quite, as yellow as their modified 

 parent. The experiments lasted for ten years, and 

 it would be preposterous to criticize them in a few 

 lines. Great praise is due to Kammerer for the 

 painstaking care with which he met the objection 



