146 ARE THE EFFECTS OF USE INHERITED ? 



This reliance finds strong support in Mr. Spencer's 

 latest teachings, for he holds that the inheritance 

 of the effects of use and disuse takes place 

 universally, and that it is now " the chief factor " 

 in the evolution of civilized man (pp. 35, 74, iv) 

 natural selection being quite inadequate for the 

 work of progressive modification. Practically he 

 abandons the hope of evolution by natural selec- 

 tion, and substitutes the ideal of a nation being 

 " modified en masse by transmission of the effects " 

 of its institutions and habits. Use-inheritance 

 will "mould its members far more rapidly and 

 comprehensively" than can be effected by the 

 survival of the fittest alone. 



But could we rely upon the aid of use-in- 

 heritance if it really were a universal law and not 

 a mere simulation of one ? Let us consider some 

 of the features of this alleged factor of evolution, 

 seeing that it is henceforth to be our principal 

 means of securing the improvement of our species 



