CHAPTER VII 



PHYSICAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL TRANSMISSION 1 



THE main question at issue is the relation of conscious- 

 ness or intelligence to heredity, another matter, that of 

 the relation of consciousness to the brain, being so purely 

 speculative that it is merely touched upon at the end of 

 this discussion. 



Professor Cope 2 says : ' There is no way short of super- 

 natural revelation by which mental education can be accom- 

 plished other than by contact with the environment through 

 sense-impressions, and by transmission of the results to sub- 

 sequent generations. The injection of consciousness into 

 the process does not alter the case, but adds a factor which 

 necessitates the progressive character of evolution.' Both 

 of these sentences may be accepted, except the assertion 

 of transmission by means of Lamarckian inheritance, which 

 the presence of consciousness seems to render unnecessary. 

 Using the more neutral word ' conservation ' instead of 

 'transmission,' I may refer to three points on which Pro- 

 fessor Cope criticises my views : first, the conservation 

 of intelligent acquisitions from generation to generation ; 

 second, ' the progressive character of evolution ' ; and 

 third, ' mental education ' or acquisition. 



1 From the American Naturalist, May, 1896, p. 422 ; in formal reply to 

 Professor Cope. 



2 American Naturalist, April, 1896, p. 343. 



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