178 EVOLUTION AND GENETICS 



It is scarcely necessary to elaborate this theme. 

 The facts are not disputed by any student of genet- 

 ics who is familiar with the evidence ; and they fur- 

 nish, in my judgment, convincing disproof of the 

 loose and vague arguments of the Lamarckians. 



The "will to believe" in the inheritance of ac- 

 quired characters is widespread and an interesting 

 feature of human behavior. The eagerness with 

 which each new claim is listened to is only too fa- 

 miliar to those who concern themselves with evolu- 

 tionary controversies. 



The willingness to listen to every new tale that 

 furnishes evidence of the inheritance of acquired 

 characters arises perhaps from a human longing to 

 pass on to our offspring the fruits of our bodily 

 gains and mental accumulations. While every scien- 

 tific investigator has sympathy for this human weak- 

 ness, he cannot allow it to influence him in his exami- 

 nation of the facts as they actually exist. In our 



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hope for the best we forget that we are invoking a 

 principle that also calls for the inheritance of the 

 worst. If we cannot inherit the effects of the train- 

 ing of our parents, we escape at least the inheritance 

 of their misfortunes. A receptive mind may be a 

 better asset for the child than a mind weighted down 

 from birth with the successes and failures of its 

 ancestors. 



