Inheritance of Acquired Characters 



acquired character, for it was not inherited by 

 its possessor, but acquired by him in his lifetime. 

 We must bear in mind that the period in the life 

 history of an organism at which a character 

 appears, is not necessarily a test as to whether 

 it is congenital or acquired, for a great many 

 congenital characters, such as a man's beard, do 

 not appear until some years after birth. As we 

 have seen, the Neo-Lamarckians believe that it 

 is possible for an organism to transmit to its 

 offspring characters which it has acquired during 

 the course of its existence. But, as we have 

 already said, the evidence goes to show that 

 such characters are not inherited. For example, 

 the tail of the young fox-terrier is not shorter 

 than that of other breeds of dogs, notwith- 

 standing the fact that its ancestors have for 

 generations had the greater portion of their 

 caudal appendage removed shortly after birth. 



We do not propose to discuss at any great 

 length the vexed question of the inheritance 

 of acquired characters, for the simple reason that 

 the Neo-Lamarckians have not brought forward 

 a single instance which indubitably proves that 

 such characters are inherited. 



Mr J. T. Cunningham, in a paper of great 

 value and interest, entitled " The Heredity of 

 Secondary Sexual Characters in relation to 

 Hormones : a Theory of the Heredity of 

 Somatogenic Characters," which appeared in 



19 



