66 GENETICS 



or by an expression of opinion, the result would be 

 doubtful, since each column contains the names of men 

 whose scientific accomplishments entitle them to a 

 respectful hearing. But just what are the facts of 

 the case? 



5. CONFUSION IN DEFINITIONS 



The source of much of the lack of agreement in 

 this controversy lies in the definition of what con- 

 stitutes an "acquired character." One is reminded 

 of the two knights who fought so bitterly over the 

 color of a shield, one maintaining that it was red, 

 the other that it was black. So they hacked away 

 at each other, as all good knights should do in the 

 defense of the truth, until they both fell -down dead 

 beside the shield which was black on one side and 

 red on the other. 



Of course actual characters are never inherited, but 

 only the determiners or potentialities which regulate 

 the way in which the organism reacts to its environ- 

 ment with respect to the characters in question. Reid 

 has pointed out that in one sense every adult charac- 

 ter is "acquired" because it has no expression at first. 

 For instance, there is no beard on the face of a male 

 infant, but one will presumably be "acquired" later 

 on in the life-cycle due to a heritable and not to an 

 environmental cause. 



It is plain that every new character which repre- 

 sents a forward evolutionary step must have been 

 "acquired," or added, sometime and somewhere, else 

 it would not be present, as there is evidence that it is. 



