34 FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 



pangenesis. If such effects be not transmitted, 

 pangenesis becomes unnecessary and Weismanri s 

 simpler, more convincing, and better supported 

 hypothesis of the continuity of the germ-plasm 

 takes its place. It is impossible on the present 

 occasion to speak in any detail of the controversy 

 which has raged intermittently during the past 

 twenty years on this fascinating subject. I will, 

 however, briefly consider a single example of the 

 error into which, as I believe, Darwin was led by 

 following the Lamarckian theory of hereditary 

 experience. I refer to the interpretation which 

 he suggests for feelings of ' the sublime ', applying 

 this term to the effect upon the brain of a vast 

 cathedral, a tropical forest, or a view from a 

 mountain height. Thus, writing to E. Gurney, 

 July 8, 1876, Darwin said on this subject : 

 ' . . . possibly the sense of sublimity excited by 

 a grand cathedral may have some connection with 

 the vague feelings of terror and superstition in 

 our savage ancestors, when they entered a great 

 cavern or gloomy forest.' J 



An interesting account is given by Romanes 2 

 of Darwin's own experience of these feelings, 

 relating how he at first thought that they were 

 most excited by the magnificent prospect surveyed 

 from one of the summits of the Cordilleras, but 

 afterwards came down from his bed on purpose 

 to correct this impression, saying that he felt 

 most of the sublime in the forests of Brazil. 



1 Life and Letters, iii. 186. 2 Ibid., 54, 55. See also i. 64, 65. 



