Inheritance of Acquired Characters 257 



the theory itself, but point it out simply as one of the conse- 

 quences of the theory. 



It has been shown quite recently, by Charrin, Delamare, 

 and Moussu, that when, after the operation of laparotomy on 

 a pregnant rabbit or guinea-pig, the kidney or the liver has 

 become diseased, the offspring sometimes show similar affec- 

 tions in the corresponding organs (kidney or liver). The 

 result is due, the authors think, to some substance set free 

 from the diseased kidney of the parent that affects the kidney 

 of the young in the uterus. By injecting into the blood of a 

 pregnant animal fresh extracts from the kidney of another 

 animal, the authors believe that the kidney of the young are 

 also affected. It will be observed that this transmission of 

 an acquired character appears to be different from that of 

 transmission through the egg ; for it is the developing, or 

 developed organ itself, that is acted upon. The results throw 

 an interesting light on the cases of epilepsy described by 

 Brown-Sequard, since they show that the diseased condition 

 of the parent may be transmitted to the later embryonic 

 stages. May not, therefore, Brown-Sequard's results be also 

 explained as due to direct transmission from the organs of the 

 parent to the similar organs of the young in the uterus ? 



There is another series of experiments of a different sort 

 that has been used as an argument in favor of the Lamarck- 

 ian view. These are the results that Cunningham has ob- 

 tained on young flatfish. He put the very young fish, 

 while still bilaterally symmetrical (in which stage the pigment 

 is equally developed on both sides of the body) into aquaria 

 lighted from below. He found that when the young fish 

 begins to undergo its metamorphosis, the pigment gradually 

 disappears on one side, as it would have done under normal 

 conditions, i.e. when they are lighted from above. If, how- 

 ever, the fish are kept for some time longer, lighted from 

 below, the pigment begins to come back again. " The first 

 fact proves that the disappearance of the pigment-cells from 



