THE ESSEX FIELD CLUb. 1 83 



develop into a flat fish at once and directly, not into an upright symmetrical 

 fish which afterwards changes into a flat fish. On the supposition that in some 

 way or other the history of the individual does affect the germ-cells in such a 

 way that they must repeat that history in the next generation, the facts of re- 

 capitulation and metamorphosis are intelligible. On the more strictly logical 

 hypothesis that the hereditary properties of the germ-cells are entirely indepen- 

 dent of the fate of the soma, we can make adaptation intelligible, but not the re- 

 capitulation of previous adaptations. Mr. Cunningham said that thus we had a 

 logical hypothesis which could not explain the facts, and, on the other hand, 

 an explanation of the facts which could not be deduced from any conceivable 

 hypothesis. 



Prof. Meldola, in proposing a vote of thanks to JMr. Cunningham, said that 

 the lecture to which they had just listened was, in his opinion, a most admirable 

 illustration of scientific method, beginning as it did with the detailed and accurate 

 record of observation, and leading up by wider and wider generalisations till they 

 had been finally brought face to face with some of the fundamental problems of 

 modern biology. One great feature which had struck him in listening to the 

 lecturer's remarks was that they were being addressed by an observer of nature 

 at first hand ; not a mere compiler from books. There was, unfortunately, much 

 book-learning being distributed as real knowledge at the present time. With 

 reference to the lecture itself. Prof. Meldola regretted that the lateness of the 

 hour precluded adequate discussion of some of the very interesting and important 

 points raised, especially towards the conclusion, when Mr. Cunningham had 

 referred to the fundamental question of the inheritance of " acquired characters." 

 He was glad to think that he (Prof. Meldola) had been the means of first bringing 

 prominently under the notice of English naturalists the work of the eminent 

 German biologist who had been a strong champion of the view that such 

 characters were not transmitted — he referred to Prof. August Weismann, of 

 Freiburg, whose latest utterances were embodied in a work recently published 

 under the title of " The Germ-Plasm." Prof. Meldola thought that some of the 

 difficulties raised by Mr. Cunningham — not against evolution as a principle, for 

 the lecturer had unhesitatingly declared himself to be an evolutionist — but against 

 the special Darwinian form of the theory, were more apparent than real. He 

 thought, for instance, that the young flat fish had to pass through the ancestral 

 phase of having eyes on each side of the head, because, at that early stage of life 

 it was a distinct advantage for the young to lead the life of an ordinary fish, so as 

 to become dispersed over a wide area as soon as possible after leaving the egg. 

 For this purpose ordinary habits, entailing bilateral symmetry in the arrangement 

 of the eyes, would be advantageous, and would therefore be retained by natural 

 selection as an extension of an embryonic phase. When the adult settled down 

 to a more sedentary life on the sea bottom, the present arrangement of the two 

 eyes on the same side of the head would be more advantageous than the older 

 arrangement. He did not feel called upon to make a confession of faith with 

 respect to a theory which was still on its trial, and of which the confirmation or 

 refutation w^as confessedly a problem surrounded by enormous practical difficulties. 

 Prof. Meldola stated in conclusion that, as far as his own opinions went, he was 

 inclined to take an opposite view to that held by their able lecturer, and to con- 

 sider that the balance of evidence was turning in favour of Weismann's doctrine 

 that " acquired," as distinguished from congenital, characters were not trans- 

 mitted from parent to offspring. 



