90 HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 



heirship, or the transmission of property from 

 parents to children, and in the field of biology 

 it has been defined erroneously as "the trans- 

 mission of qualities or characteristics, mental 

 or physical, from parents to offspring" (Cen- 

 tury Dictionary). The colloquial meaning of 

 the word has led to much confusion in biology, 

 for it carries with it the idea of the transmis- 

 sion from one generation to the next of owner- 

 ship in property. A son may inherit a house 

 from his father and a farm from his mother, 

 the house and farm remaining the same though 

 the ownership has passed from parents to son. 

 And when it is said that a son inherits his 

 stature from his father and his complexion 

 from his mother, the stature and complexion 

 are usually thought of only in their developed 

 condition, while the great fact of development 

 is temporarily forgotten. Of course there are 

 no "qualities" or "characteristics" which are 

 "transmitted" as such from one generation to 

 the next. Such terms are not without fault 

 when used merely as figures of speech, but 

 when interpreted literally, as they frequently 

 are, they are altogether misleading; they are 



