460 SUPPOSED TRANSMISSION OF MUTILATIONS. [VIII. 



for the errors of a correspondent. 'In November, 1864, a 

 pregnant merino sheep broke its right fore-leg, about two 

 inches above the knee-joint ; the hmb was put in splints and 

 healed a long time before the following March, when the 

 animal produced young. The lamb possessed a ring of black 

 wool from two to three inches in breadth round the place 

 at which the mother's leg had been broken, and upon the same 

 leg.' Now if we even admitted that a ring of black wool could 

 be looked upon as a character which corresponds to the 

 fracture of the mother's leg, the case could not possibly be 

 interpreted as the transmission of a mutilation, but as an 

 instance of the efficacy of maternal impressions; for the ewe 

 was already pregnant when she fractured her leg. The present 

 state of biological science teaches us that, with the fusion of 

 egg and sperm-cell, potential heredity is determined \ Such 

 fusion determines the future fate of the egg-cell and the in- 

 dividual with all its various tendencies. 



Such tales, when quoted as ' remarkable facts which prove 

 the transmission of mutilations,' thoroughly deserve the con- 

 tempt with which they have been received by Kant and His. 

 Wlien the above-mentioned instance was told me, I replied, ' It 

 is a pity that the black wool was not arranged in the form of 

 the inscription "To the memory of the fractured leg of my dear 

 mother." ' 



The tales of the efficacy of ' maternal impressions' and of 

 the transmission of mutilations are closely connected, and 

 break down before the present state of biological science. No 

 one can be prevented from believing such things, but they 

 have no right to be looked upon as scientific facts or even 

 as scientific questions. The first was abandoned in the middle 

 of the present century, and the second may be given up now ; 

 when once discarded we need not fear that it will ever again be 

 resuscitated. 



It is hardly necessary to say that the question as to the 

 transmission of acquired characters is not completely decided 

 by the unconditional rejection of the transmission of mutila- 

 tions. Although I am of opinion that such transmission does 

 not take place, and that we can explain the phenomena pre- 

 sented by the transformation of species without this sup- 

 ' See V. Hcnscn, ' Physiologic der Ztugung.' Leipzig, 1881. 



