INHERITANCE OF ACQUIRED CHARACTERS 107 



is far from being verified. Darwin himself, it is true, 

 accepted the Lamarckian principle to a certain extent for 

 special cases which seemed to him most easily explained 

 on that principle, but Darwinism itself is the theory of 

 " Natural Selection." We cannot here go farther into the 

 problem, which belongs properly to the subject of evolution. 

 But one thing is clear. Evolution is possible without the 

 inherited effect of acquirements. More than this, seeing 

 that the inheritance of acquired characters, which forms 

 the basis of Lamarckism, is by no means established as a 

 fact, as we have tried to show in full, we cannot escape the 

 conclusion that at the present juncture of the controversy 

 Natural Selection remains the only workable theory. 



