2 ASSAYS SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL. 



As far back as 1884, Mr. A. E. Shipley began a 

 translation of the two essays which stand first in 

 the present collection, and he has now co-operated 

 with Mr. E. B. Poulton and Dr. Schonland in 

 preparing the volume before us. Professor Weis- 

 mann has himself looked over the proof-sheets, 

 which is a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of 

 the work as a whole, while the Assays in their 

 English dress admit of the high commendation 

 that, if it were not for the necessary insertion in 

 brackets of a German technical term here and 

 there, there would be nothing to remind us that 

 the essays are a translation at all. 



The essays themselves are eight in number, and 

 are arranged in chronological order, the first being 

 written in 1881, the last in 1888. We are thus able 

 to trace the development of the theory in Professor 

 Weismann's own thoughts, and see how he was 

 led from point to point, till he reached the central 

 position, that in what he calls "the continuity of 

 Germ-plasm " is to be found the true explanation of 

 heredity. And this involves the non-transmission 

 of acquired characters, and the overthrow of the 

 Lamarckian and Neo-Lamarckian theory. 



It is only the outside of Professor Weismann's 

 work that we can hope to touch in the present 

 review. And even then we can do little more than 

 state results. For the evidence lies in the myste- 

 rious processes of embryological development, a 



