PREFACE. 



MY warmest thanks are due to Mr. Francis 

 Darwin, to Mr. E. B. Poulton (whose interest in 

 the subject here discussed is shown by his share 

 in the translation of Weismann's Essays on 

 Heredity], and to Professor Romanes, for the help 

 afforded by their kindly suggestions and criticisms, 

 and for the advice and recommendation under 

 which this essay is now published. Encourage- 

 ment from Mr. Francis Darwin is to me the more 

 precious, and the more worthy of grateful recog- 

 nition, from the fact that my general conclu- 

 sion that acquired characters are not inherited is 



