162 DR. II. B. FANTHAM 



The main hypothesis of the famous French biologist, 

 Lamarck, was the cumulative transmission of functional 

 modifications. For example, the long neck of the giraffe 

 Avas supposed in have been gradually developed in re- 

 spcmse to the need of the animal to browse on the leaves 

 of trees, and of constant effort in order to reach such 

 foliage. As a result, not only. did the neck become long, 

 but the forelimbs also became longer than the hind limbs. 

 Again, the disuse of their eyes by cave animals brought 

 about a dwindling and subsequent degeneration of these 

 organs. Such modifications or acquired characters, more 

 correctly termed acquired changes or variations, were 

 supposed by Lamarck to be transmissible to the offspring. 

 In other words, by the inherited effects of use and disuse, 

 and of modifications caused by external conditions, 

 Lamarck supposed all evolution of species to have come 

 about. At this stage, it may be remarked that the most 

 able modern defender of the principle of use-inheritance 

 w^as Herbert Spencer. Darwin himself admitted the 

 minor importance of the inheritance of acquired charac- 

 ters. 



Much more might be written of Lamarck's ideas, de- 

 rived from his studies of botany and zoology. These 

 ideas embody three truths : first, the certainty that species 

 vary under changing external inttuences; second, that 

 there is a fundamental unity in the animal kingdom; 

 third, til at tliere is a progressive and perfecting develop- 

 ment. '•'Nature," he writes, "to perfect and to diversify 



animals requires merely matter, space, and time." 



" For Nature," lie continues, " time is nothing." While 

 time limits demand that we turn to the central figure 

 in the hypothesis of evolution, it must not be forgotten 

 that the work of Lamarck was highly important, and that 

 its value has been recognised and utilised very largely 

 in present-day zoological ])hilosopy, particularly in 

 America, where the Neo-Lamarckian school of biologists 

 has done much valuable research. We now pass to a 



