vili TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 



that the effects of the conditions of life extend beyond a 

 single generation. I was therefore delighted to find that Weis- 

 mann had to contend with a formidable opponent in his own 

 country, and concluded that I could not for the present oppose 

 the progress of his views in England more effectively than 

 by publishing a translation of Professor Elmer's arguments. 



I have endeavoured as far as lay in my power to express 

 my author's ideas and reasoning in language which should 

 be English in w^ords, construction, and style. I am well 

 aware that my object has not been perfectly attained, that 

 the book contains in almost every page internal evidence of 

 its German origin. But I hope nevertheless that the transla- 

 tion is sufficiently English to be readable, and that I have pre- 

 served the full force and the exact significance of Professor 

 Elmer's exposition. I have not in any way presumed to 

 intrude myself between my author and the reader in the 

 text of the work, but I will take the present opportunity of 

 expressing some of the reasons of my uncompromising 

 opposition to Weismann's theories and views. 



One of the fundamental assumptions of Weismann's 

 theories is that acquired characters are not inherited. Only 

 this year he has published an essay on this subject under 

 the title JJeher die, Hypothese einer Vei^erbung von Verletzungen. 

 In this paper he criticises cases which have been adduced as 

 evidence that scars or artificially-produced malformations are 

 sometimes inherited. One case to which he draws parti- 

 cular attention is that of a peculiar cleft in the lobe of a 

 certain man's ear, which was interpreted by Dr. Emil 

 Schmidt as evidently due to the inheritance of a similar 

 cleft in the ear of the man's mother. The cleft in the ear 

 of the mother was known to have been caused by an injury. 



