4 ARE THE EFFECTS OF USE INHERITED ? 



and the rapid multiplication of the worst. 

 But if acquired modifications do not tend to be 

 transmitted, if the use or disuse of organs 

 or faculties does not similarly affect posterity 

 by inheritance, then it is evident that no 

 innate improvement in the race can take 

 place without the aid of natural or artificial 

 selection. 



Herbert Spencer maintains that the effects of 

 use and disuse are inherited in kind, and in his 

 Factors of Organic Evolution l he has supported 

 his 'contention with a selection of facts and reason- 

 ings which I shall have the temerity to examine 

 and criticize. Darwin also held the same view, 

 though not so strongly. And here, to prevent 

 misunderstanding, I may say that the admiration 

 and reverence and gratitude due to Darwin ought 



not to be allowed to interfere in the slightest 



t 



1 Which originally appeared in the Nineteenth Century for April 

 and May, 1886. 



