Art and Science 



that there are no facts which really prove 

 that acquired characters can be inherited, 

 although their inheritance has, by most 

 writers, been considered so probable as hardly 

 to stand in need of direct proof." l 



Professor Weismann, in passages too nu- 

 merous to quote, shows that he recognises 

 this necessity, and acknowledges that the non- 

 transmission of acquired characters " forms the 

 foundation of the views " set forth in his book, 

 p. 291. 



Professor Ray Lankester does not commit 

 himself absolutely to this view, but lends it 

 support by saying (Nature, December 12, 

 1889) : " It is hardly necessary to say that it 

 has never yet been shown experimentally that 

 anything- acquired by one generation is trans- 

 mitted to the next (putting aside diseases)." 



Mr. Romanes, writing in Nature, March 13, 

 1890, and opposing certain details of Professor 

 Weismann's theory, so far supports it as to 

 say that " there is the gravest possible doubt 

 lying against the supposition that any really 

 inherited decrease is due to the inherited 



1 " Darwinism/' 1889, p. 440. 

 281 



