NOTE BY TRANSLATOR 



TN preparing the English edition of the present work, I have 

 -'■ had the great advantage of being able to consult Professor 

 Weismann personally with regard to many of the more difficult 

 passages. Only those who have attempted to make a translation 

 of an abstruse work from German manuscript, can appreciate 

 the difficulties of rendering such a work into good English, and 

 at the same time of keeping closely to the text. As the time in 

 which the translation had to be prepared was a comparatively 

 short one, I have been unable to revise the style as thoroughly 

 as I could have wished, but trust that the author's meaning has 

 been expressed with tolerable accuracy. 



In the case of special technical terms which have no recog- 

 nised English equivalents, I have in all cases added the German 

 word in brackets the first time they are used. For the extremely 

 useful and untranslateable word ' Anlage,' the somewhat awkward 

 term ^ primary constituent ' has been used when it refers to the 

 concrete vital units : in other cases, it has been rendered by 

 ' rudiment ; ' or, when it has a more abstract meaning, by ' pre- 

 disposition.' The words ' Eigenschaft/ ' Charakter," ' Merkmal,' 

 and ' Qualitat/ are often used synonymously by the author, and 

 have therefore been indiscriminately translated by ' character- 

 istic/ ' character/ ^ peculiarity/ and ' quality.' 



I must express my thanks to Dr. G. H. Parker, of Harvard 

 University, Cambridge, Mass., who kindly undertook a first 

 revision of Chapters XIII. and XIV., and thereby rendered an 

 earlier publication of the book possible ; as well as to my friend 

 and colleague Mr. Franck Arnold, for help in elucidating some 

 of the more complicated sentences, and for many suggestions. 



W. N. PARKER. 

 Cardif, Nov. i^th, 1892. 



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