CHAPTER III 



Many examples similar to those already given, sup- 

 ported by similar arguments, similarly to be rebutted, 

 are found in the writings of numerous supporters of the 

 theory that acquired variations are transmissible. How- 

 ever, it is perhaps not quite fair to make selections in 

 so wide a field, where good examples and strong argu- 

 ments may be ignored, while bad examples and weak 

 arguments are made the objects of attack. But Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer is a foeman wortliy the steel of any 

 antagonist. His philosophy is largely founded on the 

 assumjstion that acquired traits are transmissible; and 

 he has lately jjublished a pamphlet on The Inadequacy 

 of Natural Selection. This pamphlet may faiily be 

 criticized.^ 



At the beginning Mr. Spencer, quoting Weber's 

 researches, points out that tactual discriminativeness 

 varies greatly in different parts of the human body; 

 the tip of the tongue being able to distinguish the 

 points of a compass wdien only one-twenty-fourth of an 

 inch apart, the tip of the forefinger when one-twelfth of 

 an inch apart, the breast when one inch and a half apart, 

 the middle of the back only when at least two inches 

 and a half apart, and so on. He proceeds to argue very 

 convincingly, that these differences in discriminativeness 



^ Tlie Inadequacy of Natural Selection. Williams and 



88 



Norgate. 



