36 THE BftADSHAW LECTUHE 



This peculiarity may descend both through the affected 

 and through the unaffected, but the affection, I believe, is 

 like that seen in chickens, whose feet may be deformed 

 through weakness. . . . Pedigrees of such peculiarities 

 cannot be expected to give results of much positive value. 



I take a diametrically opposite view and regard 

 these minor deformities as those from which most 

 will be gathered in the future, regardless of 

 whether they conform to theory or not. 



Weismann's Theory. 



Several families in which this defect dwells I 

 have kept in view for years, and finding it prac- 

 tically confined to the middle and upper classes 

 I used to teach, before Weismann's theory swept 

 the field of Lamarckism, that it was probably 

 brought about by generations of cramping of the 

 little finger in writing and by gloving. The 

 adhesion between the little and ring finger I 

 thought might have been brought about in the 

 same way. But Weismann has come and gone 

 with his theory of the complete independence of 

 germ-plasm and body-plasm, so that the effect of 

 environment, use or disuse, upon any part of the 

 body is not reflected, according to his theory, in 

 the germ-plasm, and consequently not hereditary. 

 His theory failed to account for the reproduction 

 of lost parts, such as the salamander's tail, which 



