236 TRANSMISSION OF ACQUIRED CHARACTERS 



days or some weeks after the operation ; they were brought on by rub- 

 bing particular areas of the body (the epileptogenic zones) ; whether 

 they ever occurred spontaneously remained doubtful, since any 

 friction on the appropriate spots — e.g. when the animal scratched 

 itself — served to bring them on. After some months the tendency 

 to the attacks disappeared, and irritation of the appropriate areas 

 was followed by only a slight fit or by none. (This is a noteworthy 

 fact.) 



The fertiUty of the " epileptic " guinea-pigs was lessened. 



Twenty-three young ones were reared (a small number compared 

 with those in Brown-Sequard's experiments) — six from two pairs 

 in which the father was " epileptic," six from four pairs in which the 

 mother was " epileptic," and seven from five pairs in which both 

 parents were " epileptic." In no case did " epilepsy " appear in the 

 offspring. Even paralysis of one or more of the extremities was not 

 demonstrated, though most carefully looked for. 



In the parents there were several defects in the toes or ulcerations 

 of the hind extremities, but in no case was there reappearance of the 

 defects or ulcerations in the offspring. 



Tw^o of the young were decrepit, and in one there was a clouding 

 of the cornea ; but there is no warrant for associating this directly 

 with the " epilepsy " of the parents. 



Sommer's conclusion is as follows : "As regards the hereditary 

 transmission of epilepsy in guinea-pigs, or of other accidentally 

 acquired pathological symptoms — e.g. defects in the toes — we have 

 obtained an absolutely negative result ; we have not been able to 

 confirm the experiments of Brown-Sequard and Obersteiner ; and 

 we do not think that these can any longer serve as a support to the 

 doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characters." * 



Before leaving the subject of these disagreeable experiments 

 we may be permitted to express our opinion that, altogether 

 apart from convictions as to the ethical limits of scientific inquiry, 

 a sound biology is not likely to gain much from experiments the 

 conditions of which are so utterly different from those occurring 

 in the state of nature. It seems to us that they are entirely 



* Sommer also points out that the guinea-pig's " epilepsy " does not 

 correspond to true epilepsy in man, but father to the so-calied reflex 

 epilepsy which follows from peripheral nerve-injuries. 



