340 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



not sufficient to account for the difference in facility with which 

 the different individuals acquire knowledge and skill ; indeed it 

 would be easy to find innumerable examples where individuals 

 with greater facilities had not done as well as individuals with 

 less. The difference lies in the capacity of making acquirements 

 in particular directions. It certainly may happen that the en- 

 vironment of an individual with a small capacity may result in 

 his acquirements in a particular line being as great as those of 

 an individual in a different environment who possesses a greater 

 capacity, but the difference in the environments must be greater 

 than the difference in the capacities to produce this result ; 

 which in many cases is unattainable under any circumstances. 



Take the case of the Jukes quoted by Prof. Thomson. The 

 " criminal taint " which he regards as being among the sugges- 

 tions " quaint in their unpracticality " was in no ways due to the 

 effect of " social ostracism," to the environment, in fact, for 

 several members of the family were taken away in babyhood 

 and brought up under circumstances most favourable to the 

 development of any moral and other desirable mental capacities 

 they might happen to possess. Unfortunately for Prof. Thomson's 

 views, they all turned out as criminally inclined as their ancestors. 

 Their performances appear to have been limited mainly by their 

 opportunities. 



We know quite well that mental capacities, that is, capacities 

 for making particular mental acquirements, are subject to 

 selection just as much as capacities for making physical 

 acquirements. Breeds of sporting dogs are examples of this 

 point. Therefore I do not see any valid reason for saying that 

 the biological point of view is likely to lead to fallacies. Cer- 

 tainly it is less liable to lead us astray than a combination of 

 sentimentality and metaphysical speculation. 



With regard to the transmission of acquired characters the 

 real question is, therefore, whether these inborn differences in 

 capacities for making acquirements can be reproduced in the 

 germ cells by the action of the environment upon the organisms 

 producing the germ cells ; whether in fact the effects of the 

 environment upon the parent can be metamorphosed into a 

 capacity for acquiring characters in the offspring. To me it 

 appears rather like saying that the effect produces the cause. 

 However, as there are apparently many who do believe that 

 acquirements are transmuted into capacities in successive 



