EVOLUTION 115 



ences between the two cannot for a moment 

 be doubted. In the inheritance of property 

 the same article is passed on from parent to 

 child, but in what we call inheritance in sexual 

 reproduction, the part inherited is not passed 

 on from the parent through the egg to the 

 offspring, but only a tendency or activity rep- 

 resenting such a part. Moreover, as we have 

 already seen, such tendencies do not even 

 emanate from the parental part in question, 

 but come directly from the racial store con- 

 tained in the germ cells. Thus it must be evi- 

 dent that the inheritance of property and the 

 inheritance of traits are very different proc- 

 esses, and, since both occur in the human be- 

 ing, it is important that, though we use the 

 same name with which to designate them, we 

 keep the two processes clearly separated in 

 our minds. 



That the inheritance of property in the 

 ordinary sense of the word is a most significant 

 factor in human affairs needs no comment. It 

 is, however, a practice that few other animals 

 have adopted. Ants continue to inhabit the 

 same hill generation after generation and thus 

 inherit and enjoy the results of their ancestors' 

 labors. Other social animals may afford similar 



