Art and Science 



extension of memory from one generation to 

 another, then the repetition of its development 

 by any embryo thus becomes only the repeti- 

 tion of a lesson learned by rote ; and, as I have 

 elsewhere said, our view of life is simplified 

 by finding that it is no longer an equation of, 

 say, a hundred unknown quantities, but of 

 ninety-nine only, inasmuch as two of the un- 

 known quantities prove to be substantially 

 identical. In this case the inheritance of 

 acquired characteristics cannot be disputed, 

 for it is postulated in the theory that each 

 embryo takes note of, remembers and is 

 guided by the profounder impressions made 

 upon it while in the persons of its parents, 

 between its present and last preceding de- 

 velopment. To maintain this is to maintain 

 use and disuse to be the main factors through- 

 out organic development ; to deny it is to 

 deny that use and disuse can have any con- 

 ceivable effect. For the detailed reasons 

 which led me to my own conclusions I must 

 refer the reader to my books, "Life and 

 Habit " l and " Unconscious Memory," l the 

 conclusions of which have been often adopted, 



1 Longmans, 1890. 

 323 



