WHAT EVOLUTION IS 87 



of being inherited and this conclusion 

 was to have been expected at the out- 

 set, for it is well known that the 

 innumerable deformations of the hu- 

 man body as practiced by primitive 

 races whereby the ears, the lips, the 

 nose, and even the head become mis- 

 shapen, have had no inborn effect 

 upon the stocks concerned. The an- 

 cient religious rite of circumcision, 

 though practiced for very many gen- 

 erations by the Hebrews, has had no 

 effect in shortening the foreskin of 

 Hebrew male infants. If mutilations 

 were inherited man would be a mere 

 fragment of what he is as a result of 

 handing on from one generation to 

 another the injuries received from 

 wars and accidents. Mutilations evi- 

 dently are not inherited and the so- 

 called examples of this kind seem to 

 be nothing but old-wives tales or 

 coincidences. 



