CONTENTS OUTLINE. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



THE INHEKITANCE OF ACQUIKED CHARACTERS 2 



THEORETICAL ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT 2 



HEREDITY. Introduction; 2; Lamarck, originator of the doctrine of 

 use and disuse, 2; Hilaire, originator of the doctrine of environ- 

 mental influences, 2-3; Darwin, doctrine of pangenesis, 3; Brooks 

 and Galton's modifications of this, 5; Morgan, criticism of pan- 

 genesis, 5; Spencer, physiological units, 6; bearing of theories of 

 heredity upon transmission of acquired characters, 7; Weis- 

 mann, 7; value of his work, 8; immortality of protozoa, 8; mor- 

 tality of metazoa, 9; Naegeli's nucleoplasm theory criticised, 10; 

 immortality of germplasm precluding the inheritance of acquired 

 characters, 10; Vines' criticism of Weismann, 11; Weismann's 

 reply to Vines, 13; Ryder, theory of heredity opposed to Weis- 

 mann, 17; Morgan on cellular continuity, 19; Eimer on same, 20; 

 summary of argument between Weismann and his opponents, 21. 

 PAMMIXIS. Morgan's criticism of, 22; Cunningham's criticism, 23; 

 Romanes on cessation of selection, 23; other theories to account 

 for degeneration, reversal of selection (Romanes), economy of 

 energy (Darwin), disuse (Lamarck), retardation (Cope), 24. 



PRACTICAL ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT 27 



CONSEQUENCES OF DISPENSING WITH THE INHERITANCE OF ACQUIRED 

 CHARACTERS. Cunningham, general consequences, 27; inability 

 of accounting for origination of new characters, 27; inheritance 

 of acquired characters by protozoa admitted, 28; Osborn, why 

 should this factor become obsolete?, 28; Romanes, all variations 

 must be directly acquired, 28. 



EVIDENCE OF OBSERVED CASES OF TRANSMISSION. ABNORMAL TRANS- 

 MISSIONS. Cunningham on why mutilations are not transmitted, 

 29; Morgan, the transmission of mutilations not a proof of the 

 inheritance of acquired characters, 29; Weismann on mutila- 

 tions, 30; experiments with white mice, 31; Cunningham's criti- 

 cism of his observations on the feet of Chinese ladies, 31; Eimer, 

 instances of observed cases of transmission of mutilations, 32-34; 

 inheritance of artificially induced epilepsy in guinea pigs, 34. 



