DIVISION OF GENE 



HILGARL HALL 



GEIN 



[ Reprinted from THE AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. XLIX., Jan., 19)5 ) 



GENETIC DEFINITIONS IN THE NEW STANDARD 

 DICTIONARY 



THE widely advertised aim of the Funk & Wagnalls Company 

 to include in their "New Standard Dictionary of the English 

 Language ' ' all of the new additions to scientific terminology natu- 

 rally invites the specialist in each branch of science to examine 

 the definitions of the new words in his own field. Professor 

 Miller 1 has called attention to the fact that the mathematical 

 definitions are not reliable. The same criticism must be made 

 regarding the definitions of many terms now familiar in the liter- 

 ature of genetics. For some of the errors in these definitions the 

 editorial staff can not be blamed, because the errors were passing 

 current among genetic writers themselves, at a time when further 

 changes in the dictionary probably became impossible; other 

 errors are less easily explained. While such a monumental work 

 as the Standard Dictionary tends to fix the usage of language, 

 the shortcomings of the genetic definitions may not be expected to 

 seriously affect the terminology actually used by the specialists: 

 in this fie^d; but for those who are engaged in other scientific- 

 fields, who have only a casual interest in genetics, and who must,, 

 therefore, depend upon the dictionary for the meaning of any 

 genetic terms they may happen to meet, the erroneous definitions 

 are unfortunate. While very few of the genetic definitions are 

 free from defects, either of omission or of commission, onl^ those 

 which seem most obviously defective will be considered here. In 

 the following list of words the definition of the New Standard 

 Dictionary is stated first, and then follows, in italic type, a defi- 

 nition which I believe will meet with the approval of most 

 geneticists. 



Acquired. Transmitted by inheritance to subsequent generations; as, 

 acquired characters. 



Acquired character. A modification of bodily structure or habit which is 

 impressed on the organism in the course of individual life. 



Both of these definitions occur in the New Standard Dictionary, 

 the first under " acquired," the second under " character." Al- 

 though "impressed on" may not be the best figure of speech to use 

 in this connection, the second definition represents fairly well the 

 correct usage of this phrase. It is difficult to understand why 



i Science, N. S., 38: 772, November 28, 1913. 



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