PACKARD. — INHERITANCE OF ACQUIRED CHARACTERS. 845 



toxication of the germ plasm. The guinea-pigs are rendered epileptic 

 by different procedures, i. e. section of the spinal cord, of the sciatic 

 nerve, of the great sympathetic, etc. The youug to which they give 

 birth after these operations often present (17 times in 30) a general 

 feebleness, and various nervous affections ; motor paralysis of the fore 

 or hind legs, or trophic paralyses, which result in the loss of toes, of 

 the cornea, etc. ;* in 32 youug born of epileptic parents two have 

 shown symptoms of epilepsy. " The transmission of nervous troubles 

 cannot then leave the shadow of a doubt, although in no case has the 

 mutilation which has been the cause of it in the parents been repro- 

 duced in the descendants.'" Cueuot then adds, " We are still in the 

 presence of an infection of the germ plasm, due perhaps to bacteria 

 as in the case of syphilis (an opinion sustained with much force by 

 Weismann), perhaps also to poisons secreted by epileptic parents, 

 which carries us back to the case of alcoholism. " 



Another case is the result of experiments by Paul Bert,f who at- 

 tempted to acclimatize some Daphniae in salinated water by adding 

 from day to day a little salt in the water of an aquarium. At the end 

 of 45 days, when it contained 1.5% of salt, all the Daphniae had 

 died, but the eggs contained in their brood-sac survived, and the new 

 generation of Daphniae to which they had given birth flourished per- 

 fectly well in the same medium. " This experiment," adds Cuenot, 

 "shows with admirable clearness that the germ plasm has, owing to 

 the modification, become accustomed to the salt, causing it to produce 

 a generation so different from the preceding." We should interpret 

 these facts as showing that the Crustacean had been so profoundly 

 affected in the lifetime of the individual as to produce young per- 

 fectly adapted to a changed environment ; the germ plasm may have 

 been the vehicle, all the same, but the experiment is a case in favor of 

 the Neo-Lamarckian principle. 



Other authors who have advocated the views that acquired char- 

 acters may be transmitted are Cope,| Ryder,§ Oshorn, Vines, || 



* It appears that, if the young are born with tails, an even more impor- 

 tant lesion, the loss of toes and of the cornea, etc., results. Why should not 

 these cases strongly confirm the Lamarckian principle of the inheritance of 

 characters acquired during the lifetime of the individual '? 



t P. Bert, Sur la Cause de la Mort des Animaux d'Eau douce qu'on plonge 

 dans l'Eau de Mer. Comptes Rendus de 1'Acade'mie des Sciences, XCVII., 

 Paris, 1883. 



\ Origin of the Fittest, 1887, and minor papers. 



§ A Physiological Hypothesis of Heredity and Variation. Amer. Naturalist. 

 January, 1890, pp. 85-92. 



|| Lectures on the Physiology of Plants. Cambridge, 188G. 



