USE-INHERITANCE AN E VI L. 1 3 1 



and its shell, or the brain and its skull ; and in 

 minor matters there would be the same incongruity 

 of effect. Thus, if the molar teeth lengthened 

 from extra use the incisors could not meet. Un- 

 equal and indiscriminate variation would throw 

 the machinery of the organism out of gear in 

 innumerable ways. 



^Use-inheritance would perpetuate various evils. 

 We are taught, for instance, that it perpetuates 

 short-sight, inferior senses, epilepsy, insanity, 

 nervous disorders, and so forth. It would ap- 

 parently transmit the evil effects of over-exertion, 

 disuse, hardship, exposure, disease and accident, 

 as well as the defects of age or immaturity. 



Would it not be better on the whole if each 

 individual took a fresh start as far as possible 

 on the advantageous typical lines laid down by 

 natural selection ? Through the long stages of 

 evolution from primaeval protoplasm upwards, 

 such species as were least affected by use-inherit- 



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