162 THE THEORIES OF EVOLUTION 



lates of the theory. To have recourse to this expla- 

 nation would be to admit the uselessness of the hier- 

 archy of representative particles which were supposed 

 to predetermine everything and to leave nothing to be 

 explained by the influence of the environment. 



From our survey of the Weismannian theory, the 

 most elaborate of the representation theories, it would 

 appear that all similar systems are doomed to failure. 

 The idea of character representation will never offer 

 a satisfactory solution of the main biological prob- 

 lems. 



