Essays on Life 



themselves with greater or less accuracy or 

 perturbation, as the case may be, to the cells 

 that go to form offspring, and that since the 

 characteristics of matter are determined by 

 vibrations, in communicating vibrations they 

 in effect communicate matter, according to 

 the view put forward in the last chapter of 

 my book "Luck or Cunning," 1 then we can 

 better understand it. I have nothing, how- 

 ever, to do with Mr. Darwin's theory of 

 pangenesis beyond avoiding the pretence that 

 I understand either the theory itself or what 

 Professor Weismann says about it; all I am 

 concerned with is Professor Weismann's ad- 

 mission, made immediately afterwards, that 

 the somatic cells may, and perhaps sometimes 

 do, impart characteristics to the germ-cells. 



" A complete and satisfactory refutation of 

 such an opinion," he continues, " cannot be 

 brought forward at present " ; so I suppose we 

 must wait a little longer, but in the mean- 

 time we may again remark that, if we admit 

 even occasional communication of changes in 

 the somatic cells to the germ-cells, we have 



1 Longmans, 1890. 

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