OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS 235 



less precise and less attractive than those offered by 

 the Weismannians, they point at least in the right 

 direction. The application of this method will prob- 

 ably lead to the solution of the mooted question of 

 the heredity of acquired characters. It is to be hoped 

 that by studying in the light of the observations on 

 heredity the various physiological, histological, and 

 physico-chemical phenomena which accompany onto- 

 genesis, we may some day discover the mechanism of 

 character transmission. At any rate, our present 

 ignorance concerning that mechanism does not justify 

 us in rejecting the theory postulating that transmis- 

 sion. 



