igS Variations and Orthoplasy 



congenital variations ; but also where the valuable and 

 life-preserving character is a modification, or an accom- 

 modation, acquired in the individual's lifetime, and serving 

 its purpose in connection with some quite different and 

 remote function. 



We may use an illustration cited with all due emphasis 

 and triumph by Professor Cope in his Factors of Organic 

 Evolutioji, and accepted by an able critic, Mr. F. A. 

 Bather,^ as affording evidence of Lamarckian inheritance 

 (provided the facts are true as reported). The apprecia- 

 tion of the case by the latter writer gives it additional 

 interest. The facts should be more fully inquired into, 

 however, with the sharp criticism which Weismann has 

 taught us to bring to bear on such cases. 



The reported facts are : first, sheep carried from Ohio 

 to Texas produce wool which is harsh, when, before this, 

 the same sheep had wool v/hich was fine and good ; the 

 wool acts differently under dyes. This, it is suggested, is 

 due to the alkaline quality of the soil in Texas. So far 

 there is no difficulty ; all would admit that the difference 

 is due to the conditions of the new environment upon the 

 individual sheep. Second, * it is stated * (these are the 

 original reporter's words) 'that the acquired harshness 

 grows more pronounced with the successive shearings 

 of the same sheep ; ' this again may be true and due to 

 the continued direct action of the environment. So far, 

 no trouble. Third, ' it is also alleged ' (again the re- 

 porter's words, together with what follows in quotation 

 marks) ' that the harshness increases with succeeding 

 generations, and that the flocks which have inhabited such 

 regions for several generations produce naturally a harsher 



^ Natural Science, January, 1897, PP- 37 ^' 



