Criticisms of Organic Selection 159 



in the London Speaker. Giving an exposition of the posi- 

 tion which the book takes (p. 207) on the subject of hered- 

 ity, the reviewer says : ' If, however, creatures having 

 the ability to make intelligent adaptations which become 

 consolidated into habits (called 'secondary instincts') are 

 selected for survival, it is just as if secondary instincts 

 were acquired by actual transmission to offspring of the 

 modifications produced in parents by the exercise of their 

 own intelligence. Psychologists may, therefore, practically 

 speak as if acquired mental characters were really inher- 

 ited, though what is inherited may be only the ability to 

 acquire them. Such ability, of course, natural selection 

 would accumulate like any other variation.' 



While suggested in the book, however, it is not enlarged 

 upon, since the section on heredity was written only to 

 show that either of the current views might be held to- 

 gether with the main teaching of the book. 1 



1 I regret taking so much space for these personal explanations, but the 

 editor of Science can spare the space, since it is he who asked the question ! 



