Essays on Life 



other hand, to extreme Charles-Darwinians 

 and Weismannists, habit, effort and intel- 

 ligence acquired during the experience of any 

 one life goes for nothing. Not even a little 

 fraction of it endures to the benefit of offspring. 

 It dies with him in whom it is acquired, and 

 the heirs of a man's body take no interest 

 therein. To state this doctrine is to arouse 

 instinctive loathing ; it is my fortunate task 

 to maintain that such a nightmare of waste 

 and death is as baseless as it is repulsive. 



The split in biological opinion occasioned 

 by the deadlock to which Charles-Darwinism 

 has been reduced, though comparatively recent, 

 widens rapidly. Ten years ago Lamarck's 

 name was mentioned only as a byword for 

 extravagance ; now, we cannot take up a 

 number of Nature without seeing how hot 

 the contention is between his followers and 

 those of Weismann. This must be referred, 

 as I implied earlier, to growing perception 

 that Mr. Darwin should either have gone 

 farther towards Lamarckism or not so far. 

 In admitting use and disuse as freely as he 



did, he gave Lamarckians leverage for the 



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