The Beginning and End of Life 393 



jUs, some must have been set aside for reproducing not 

 lerely themselves, but the whole complex organism of 

 rhich they had come to form a part, and thus the distinc- 

 )n arose, between the general whole, or soraa, on the one 

 [and, and the contents — the germi-plasnii — of such repro- 

 [uctive cells on the other. 



In this way the mystery of heredity seems satisfactorily 

 :plained ; for the continuity of germ-plasm is like the con- 

 Luity of multiplying single cells. Since the continuity of 

 le latter makes succeeding generations in a sense really one, 

 lere is little wonder that the child is like his forebears; for 

 le continuity of the germ-plasm also makes succeeding 

 fenerations in a sense really one. 



But the Professor's theory carries with it one very 

 remarkable consequence. If all the characters and powers 

 possessed by every living creature are exclusively due to 

 those portions of the parental organisms which consist of 

 germ-plasm, it follows that no character acquired by the 

 ^:»na of either can ever be transmitted. However much 

 bodily or mental activity may have developed the powers of 

 a father, he can never hope to transmit to his offspring any 

 similar capacity. All he can transmit must be such faculties 

 as he himself brought with him into the world, and which 

 were latent in the unimaginably minute structure of his own 

 germ-plasm. All post-natal modifications of the soma, and 

 all such mental acquisitions. Professor Weismann terms 

 ^ acquired characters,' and he absolutely and categorically 

 denies that any acquired character can be transmitted. 



Such is the great theory which has excited so much 

 interest in the world of science, and has begun even to 

 attract the attention of the general public. Such is the 

 main contention of this distinguished naturalist, upon whose 

 shoulders, as we have said, the mantle of Darwin has 

 descended, according to not a few of his admirers — admirers 



