156 HEREDITARY CHARACTERS 



variation in the direction of eyes that are less and less 

 efficient happens to take place, until a race of blind animals 

 is ' selected,' that is to say, is allowed to survive." l There 

 is no sentence in this with which a Neo-Darwinian would 

 agree. Besides, the whole phenomenon is not a case of 

 natural selection at all, but simply the disappearance of a 

 character which is no longer the subject of selection. As 

 we have already seen, characters disappear sooner or later 

 when they cease to be the subjects of selection. 2 The theory 

 of natural selection does not assume that variations occur all 

 in the same direction. The variations occur in all directions, 

 and it is the environment that determines which of many 

 variations shall be preserved. With the case of the dis- 

 appearance of the eyes of these fishes natural selection has 

 nothing to do, as there is no evidence that this is a case 

 of reversed selection. The eyes were not injurious, they 

 were merely useless. Within a few lines, however, we have 

 another travesty of the theory that characters are produced 

 by the action of natural selection acting upon inborn varia- 

 tions : " Similarly, the ear happened to be evolved without 

 any reference to, or influence exerted by, the sound waves in 

 the air. Some bones and other structures in the head and 

 neck happened to vary ' spontaneously ' in such a way as 

 fitted them to receive the sonorous waves ; but in the pro- 

 duction of this ' spontaneous ' variation the action of the 

 sonorous waves had no share. The same variation would 

 have taken place if there had been no sound waves." 3 



But the real interpretation of those who uphold the 

 theory that acquired characters are never transmitted is 

 somewhat as follows. Some low form of animal, in an early 

 period of evolution, happened to vary in such a way that 

 some part of its body was sensitive to sound waves. This 

 gave it an advantage over its fellows, and it had a longer 



1 Mercier, Charles, "The Transmission of Acquired Characters," The Con- 

 temporary Review, December 1908. 

 1 See pp. 66, 131. 

 3 Mercier, Charles, loc. cit. 



