ACQUIRED CHARACTERS 43 



How difficult of solution this question is, may be 

 judged from the opposite conclusions of different 

 biologists. Delage, an extremely acute and common- 

 sense French writer, concludes that " It is by no means 

 proved that modifications, acquired under the influence 

 of the conditions of life, are generally hereditary, but 

 it seems fairly certain that they are sometimes so. 

 This depends without doubt on their nature." Pro- 

 fessor Arthur Thompson comes to the opposite con- 

 clusion ; he says : " The question resolves itself into 

 a matter of fact : have we any concrete evidence to 

 warrant us in believing that definite modifications are 

 ever, as such or in any representative degree, trans- 

 mitted ? It appears to us that we have not. But to 

 say dogmatically that such transmission is impossible, 

 is unscientific." 



It seems to us that the latter attitude, the attitude 

 which regards the case for the affirmative as not proven, 

 is the most reasonable under the circumstances. It 

 seems impossible to deny that this negative opinion is 

 spreading, and that the position of Delage is becoming 

 less widely held ; and if no strong concrete evidence is 

 forthcoming in the near future, it appears to be prob- 

 able that the negative position will become generally 

 accepted. 



As before stated, the question is one of much prac- 

 tical importance. But even if modifications be not in- 

 herited, the environment is still, for practical purposes, 

 a matter of extreme significance. It is unneces- 

 sary to emphasise the great influence of environment 

 on man. Education, in its wide sense, is of well-nigh 

 supreme importance both for the individual and for 

 the State. And it should make us but more hopeful 

 of the results of schemes of social reform, if we believe 

 that the slum child is none the worse for the sordid 

 conditions under which its parents have lived. 



For the breeder of plants and animals, too, the en- 

 vironment is of first-rate importance, for it often sets 

 a very definite limit to what he can accomplish. Our 

 better varieties of apples and carnations, as well as our 



