208 TRANSMISSION OF ACQUIRED CHARACTERS 



and the process of elimination which persistently weeds out the 

 less swift from the stud. And even apart from artificial selection 

 and elimination there may be a progressively cumulative suc- 

 cession of variations making for greater and greater swiftness. 

 We may even picture how this might come about, if we adopt 

 Weismann's conception of germinal selection. 



Case of Squatting Punjabis. — It has been stated that the 

 Punjabis of India show certain peculiarities of musculature and 

 skeleton which are associated with the frequency with which 

 these people assume on all possible occasions the squatting 

 posture. It is asserted that the peculiarities of structure are 

 due to the peculiarities of function, but this requires definite 

 proof (Misunderstanding III). They may be adaptations origina- 

 ting in germinal variations. It is necessary to know whether the 

 peculiarities are in any degree represented on new-born Punjabi 

 babies, but even then it would be simpler to regard them as 

 variations than as transmitted modifications. There can be 

 no conclusiveness in regard to peculiarities whose first appearance 

 is hidden in obscurity. If squatting increased from generation to 

 generation, and if the structural peculiarities increased -pari passu, 

 the case would be interesting ; but even then we should have to 

 inquire whether we were not dealing with a progressive variation. 



Peculiarities of Occupations. — In his interesting paper on 

 the anatomy of the shoemaker, Dr. Arbuthnot Lane describes 

 the peculiarities induced by this occupation, which tends to 

 form a distinct anatomical type. The same is true of the tailor. 

 " The bent form, the crossed legs, thumb-and-forefinger action, 

 and peculiar jerk of the head while drawing the thread, are the 

 main features of the sartorial habit," and they are associated 

 with permanent changes in muscles, insertion surfaces, and 

 articulations. These are indubitable modifications : what of 

 their transmission ? No one, Dr. Lane says, would expect any 

 perceptible changes in the first generation, but he thinks that he 

 has observed inherited effects in the third. 



