CHAPTER V. 



CHARACTERS AS HEREDITARY AND ACQUIRED 

 (continued). 



(A. and B.) 



Direct and Indirect Evidence in favour of the Non- 

 inheritance of Acquired Characters l . 



THE strongest argument in favour of " continuity " 

 is that based upon the immense difference between 

 congenital and acquired characters in respect of 

 heritability. For that there is a great difference 

 in this respect is a matter of undeniable fact. And 

 it is obvious that this difference, the importance of 

 which must be allowed its full weight, is just what 

 we should expect on the theory of the continuity of 

 the germ-plasm, as opposed to that of pangenesis. 

 Indeed it may be said that the difference in question, 

 while it constitutes important evidence in favour of 

 the former theory, is a difficulty in the way of the 

 latter. But here two or three considerations must be 

 borne in mind. 



In the first place, this fact has long been one which 

 has met with wide recognition and now constitutes 

 the main ground on which the theory of continuity 



1 [See note appended to Preface. C. LI. M.] 



