

TRANSMISSION OF MODIFICATIONS 413 



descended into an external sac (the scrotum) is in no way use- 

 ful ; on the contrary, it is in many ways unfortunate for the 

 individual. Again, the extreme development of the testes in 

 cattle, and especially in sheep, is most inconvenient, not to say 

 dangerous. Such unusual size is in no way necessary, as we 

 must infer from comparison with other species. It is one of 

 the strange overgrowths of nature, unfortunate, but not suffi- 

 ciently dangerous to destroy the species. In other words, here 

 are characters upon which selection has never fastened its hold, 

 and consequently they have not been made to square with the 

 highest degree of utility, and have not been brought into the 

 closest " fit." The inference is unavoidable that the existence 

 of a character is not absolutely dependent upon its usefulness. 1 

 All this is matter of slight consequence in itself, but it is of 

 fundamental importance when discussing questions touching the 

 disappearance of characters and the transmission of variations. 



The origin of characters. Considerations such as here engage 

 the attention, impel the student to raise, in his own mind at 

 least, the ultimate question, What was the origin of racial 

 characters, and how did they come into being ? 



It may be humiliating, but it is certainly necessary, to say 

 that we do not know, and to freely confess that present informa- 

 tion throws little light upon the question. The Lamarckians 

 find a ready answer in asserting that all characters have origi- 

 nated in the necessities of the individual and the race, and in 

 the influence of the conditions of life ; but it is both illogical 

 and unscientific to assume that an organ or a part " arose " for 

 no greater reason than that the need for it existed. 



The opponents of the Lamarckians, among whom Weis- 

 mann is the recognized leader, - depending as they do exclu- 

 sively upon selection, must assume the preexistence of the 

 characters on which selection may operate, for selection as such 

 can originate nothing; but this introduces new difficulties, for all 

 higher life is considered to have evolved from lower through the 

 acquisition of characters leading to greater specialization. Now 

 these differentiating characters must have arisen sometime, some- 

 where, and in some way. Weismann recognizes this difficulty and 

 1 Of what possible use is the "beard" on the breast of the turkey? 



