1890 LETTER TO PROFESSOR POULTON 205 



you a back-hander. In point of fact, however, I never 

 do such things ; and the more reason I have for any- 

 thing like hitting back (which, however, is entirely 

 absent on the present occasion), the more careful 

 should I be to avoid any appearance of doing so in an 

 unsigned review. I neither wrote, nor have I read 

 the particular review in question. 



Regarding articulation, read in my c Mental 

 Evolution in Man,' Mr. Hales' admirable remarks on 

 children having probably been the constructors of all 

 languages, I believe this theory will prove to be the 

 true solution of the origin of languages, as distin- 

 guished from the faculty of language. What you say 

 about the latter being blastogenetic, requires you to 

 unsay what is said by W. 



Please let me know whether there is anything 

 that you see in my ' cessation of selection ' different 

 from W.'s ' Panmixia.' The debate to-day failed to 

 furnish any opposition. 



Yours very sincerely, 



G. J. ROMANES. 



Geanies, Ross- shire, N.B. : October 21, 1889. 



My dear Poulton, Many thanks for your interest- 

 ing letter. From it I quite understand your views 

 about the relation between reproduction and repair ; 

 are they those of Weismann or altogether your own ? 

 And have they, as yet, been published anywhere ? If 

 not, I suppose it is undesirable to allude to them in 

 public ? The theory is ingenious, but seems to sail 

 rather near Pangenesis (as do many of the latter 



