CHAPTER VI. 



Weismann 



Bradford. 



Ribot. 



Heredity 

 Defined. 



THE FACTORS OF HEREDITY. 



"Heredity is the process which renders possible 

 that persistence of organic beings throughout suc- 

 cessive generations, which is generally thought 

 to be so well understood as to need no special ex- 

 planation." Weismann. 



"Heredity is the law through which the indi- 

 vidual receives from his parents by birth his chief 

 vital forces and tendencies, his physical and spir- 

 itual capital." Bradford. 



"Heredity is that biological law by which all 

 beings endowed with life tend to repeat them- 

 selves in their descendants. It is for the species 

 what personal identity is for the individual. By 

 it a ground work remains unchanged amid inces- 

 sant variations, by it nature ever copies and imi- 

 tates herself." Ribot. 



Heredity is the science of transmission. It 

 deals with that process in nature whereby the 

 characteristics of one generation are transmitted 

 to the next. It is the perpetuating factor of biol- 

 ogy and evolution. Considered in its broadest 

 sense heredity includes all those laws, factors and 

 forces which enter into the origin and determine 

 the character of the new life. 



The great fundamental law of heredity is that 

 like produces like. As expressed by Darwin, 



