178 Orthoplasy 



the original conditions. The argument is that the effect 

 would not continue to appear in the environment in which 

 there is nothing external to bring it about, unless the mod- 

 ifications effected by the changed environment had been 

 inherited. This is so strong a point that many who find 

 no evidence for Lamarckianism in other cases admit that 

 it is likely here. 



Now the point is that this relative permanence of what 

 seems to be the influence of external conditions can be 

 explained by organic selection. For we may hold, as it is 

 the essence of this view to hold, that the forces of the 

 environment in such cases modify the individuals exposed 

 to them ; and these modifications shield certain lines of 

 variations in the same direction. If the plants lived awhile 

 in the new environment they would show this shifting of 

 variation in that direction ; each subsequent generation 

 would thus have less change to undergo. So to the degree 

 •that the variations were distributed about a mean differ- 

 ent from that which existed before the plants were first 

 removed from their original habitat, to this degree the 

 reverse process would have to take place when they are 

 taken back to this habitat again. That is, when first taken 

 back they would continue to show the influence of the 

 temporary environment without actually inheriting any- 

 thing directly from it. Besides the cases of fact cited by 

 the botanists, we may refer to the instance recently brought 

 out on the zoological side — that of sheep said to have 

 been transferred from Ohio to Texas, where certain 

 changes took place in their wool — spoken of in another 

 connection (Chap. XIV. § i). 



(5) In all cases of conscious or intelligent, including 

 social, accommodation : in these cases conscious action 



