146 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



It happens that Lamarck discussed mutilations under 

 the term of "accidental defects", and he states that they 

 are not inherited. He says: — "Hence it is that in man, 

 who is exposed to so great a diversity of environment, 

 the accidental qualities or defects which he acquires are 

 not preserved and propagated by reproduction." (Pac- 

 kard's translation, pages 246, 319; Elliot's translation, 

 page 124.) 



Here we see that the long and acrimonious dispute over 

 the supposed inheritance of mutilations was based on a 

 misunderstanding which orginated no one knows where, 

 and which had no bearing on Lamarck's theory. As we 

 shall see later, the idea that mutilations might be inherit- 

 ed is entirely foreign to the theory and had no excuse for 

 existence. 



Darwin advanced the theory that by selecting varia- 

 tions, changes might be brought about which would result 

 in the production of new species. He did not explain 

 the origin of variations but said that with variations in 

 existence, selection would accomplish wonderful results. 

 The often repeated statement that selection does so-and- 

 so has come to mean, even among biologists, that selec- 

 tion is the real and actual cause. They forget that the 

 variation must come into existence before it can be select- 

 ed, and that the cause of the variation must be something 

 other than the subsequent selection. 



The same kind of confusion of ideas has come into the 

 popular consideration of Lamarck's theory in regard to 

 environment. The idea that the environment may cause 

 modifications has been popular since before Lamarck's 

 time, and is so now. Even the biologists of the present 

 time subject guinea-pigs, rats, mice, rabbits, etc. to en- 

 vironmental actions in efforts to produce heritable modi- 

 fications. Among the things done has been subjecting 

 animals to prolonged applications of alcohol, to X-rays, 

 to radium emanations, to injection of the juice of eye 

 lens, to rotation in cages, and so on. 



Lamarck had a great deal to say about the environ- 

 ment, but he did not claim that the environment caused 



