54 



NATURE 



[November 15, 1894 



however, are not sufficiently described. Cases are known 

 •where shavings from a 2i-inch drill working on cast steel 

 have been obtained many feet in length, the material, of 

 course, being of very excellent quality. 



The illustrations of drilling machines are good, but all 

 appear to have the ordinary power feed ; in many cases 

 it is found advantageous to have, besides the power feed, 

 a quick hand feed in addition, in conjunction with a 

 power attachment, the quick hand gear being used to 

 withdraw the tool in all cases. These motions are very 

 handy in boiler shops, where the same machine may 

 have to drill rivet-holes out of the solid, rhymer or 

 enlarge punched holes, and finally countersink holes, all 

 requiring different feeds. 



The continuation of the steam engine in this volume 

 includes boiler fittings and details, efficiency of the engine 

 and engine and boiler trials, concluding with a chapter 

 on compound engines. The latter parts of these chapters 

 are well written and interesting. The classical work of 

 the late Mr. Willans is largely drawn upon, as well as the 

 trials carried out by the institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers, besides careful descriptions of other steam- 

 engine trials. The combination of indicator diagrams 

 of compound or triple expansion engines is wel 

 explained. 



A series of articles on engineering workshop practice 

 is commenced, and they are very good so far as they go, 

 but it may be suggested that engineers' shop appliances 

 as generally used should be described, and not the 

 "elegant amateur tools," such as are illustrated in Figs. 

 29 and 77. J^- J- L. 



Index Kcwensis Plaiitarum Phanerogamarum. Sump- 

 tibus Beati Caroli Roberti Darwin ductu et consilio 

 Josephi D. Hooker, confecit B. Daydon Jackson. 

 Fasciculus iii. (Oxoni : E prelo Clarendoniano, 1S94.) 



The third fasciculus of the Kew Index, which the 

 Clarendon Press has just issued, brings us within sight of 

 the completion of this monumental work. This part 

 brings the Index down to near the end of the letter P, 

 and we may look forward then to seeing in course of the 

 coming year the concluding fasciculus. Since we noticed 

 the earlier fasciculi there has been no new development 

 in the nomenclature controversy, upon which, we believe, 

 the Kew Index will e-vercise an important influence ; the 

 effect of this will likely be only apparent after the whole 

 is published. Meanwhile the sterling value of the Index 

 is increasingly evident, and every botanist will congratu- 

 late the preparers and the publishers upon the appearance 

 of this third fasiculus, in which the same careful and 

 conscientious workmanship is noticeable as characterised 

 the portions of the work previously issued. 



Alpine Climates for Comumplion. By H. J. Hardwicke, 

 .M.D. Pp. 65. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1S94.) 



THt high-aliitude cure for acquired and hereditary con- 

 sumption has gained ground in the medical world during 

 recent years, with the result that numerous winter health 

 stations have sprung into existence in Switzerland. Dr. 

 Hardwicke's little brochure has been written for the 

 purpose of providing trustworthy and unbiassed inform- 

 ation with regard to some of these resorts. It is pointed 

 out that the principal reqairemenls of an Alpine winter 

 -climate in the treatment of phthisis are (1) high altitude, 

 (2) low temperature, (3; dry atmosphere, (4) large amount 

 of sunshine and ozone, (5) low atmospheric pressure, (6) 

 freedom from wind, (7; freedom from organic and in- 

 organic panicles in the air, (8; absence of fogs, (9) good 

 water-supply, (10) good drainage. The author believes 

 that stations possessing all these properties are extremely 

 beneficial to consumptive patients. Mis book will help 

 sufferers from lung disease to the selection of a suitable 

 winter residence. 



NO. 1307, VOL. 51] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



The Editor dots not hold himsel/ responsible for opinions ex- 

 tressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers oj, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part o/Nature. 

 No notice is taken ot anonymous communications.^ 



" Acquired Characters." 

 It may be at once conceded that persons who discuss whether 

 " acquired characters " are inherited or not, ought to know and 

 to be able to stale clearly what is meant by the term "acquired 

 characters." 



I am surprised that Sir Edward Fry should find any difficulty 

 in ascertaining what should be meant by this term when used in 

 the case to which he refers, viz. the theories of Lamarck and of 

 Darwin with regard to the origin of the species of plants and 

 animals. Sir Edward Fry seems to assume that the matter under 

 discussion is contained in certain writings by Prof. Weismann as 

 though ihose writings were a sort of "affidavit," binding and 

 limiting the discussion. The fact is that Prof. Weismann is a 

 wilnesi — and an advocate too — in a case which is of more 

 ancient dale than his connection with it. 



Sir Edwaid Fry has found some satisfaction, as have many 

 other writers, in pointing out inconsistencies and ambiguities 

 in Prof. Weismann's statements ; but it is to me somewhat 

 astonishing that one should be invited to a textual criticism of 

 Weismann's words in order to ascertain the significance of the 

 term "acquired characters." The term and the discussion 

 about ihe inheritance or non-inheritance of acquired characters 

 were not invented by Weismann I They have been familiar 

 ever since the discussion of Mr. Darwin's book on the " Origin 

 , of Species," commenced thirty-five years ago. The term has 

 been explained and amplified over and over again. It really 

 dales back to Lamarck ; and 1 should propose, when anxious 

 to know ihe meaning of a lerm associated willi Lamarck's doc- 

 Irine, to invesligaie Lamarck's writings rather than Weismann's. 

 Lamarck's "Philosophic Z )ologique " was published in 

 1839. On p. 235 of vol. i. of the reprint of this work, issued 

 in 1S73 under the direction of Prof. Charles Martin, Lamarck 

 slates his two ' ' laws " of organic development. They run : — 

 Premiirc Loi. — " Dans tout animil qui n'a pjint depasse le 

 terme de ses developpements, I'emplol plus frcquenl et 

 soulenu d'un organe quelconque lortilie peu .1 peu cet 

 organe, le dcveloppe, I'agrandit, el lui donne une puissance 

 proporlionnc a la duree de eel emploi ; tandis qiie le dcfaut 

 constant d'usage de lei organe I'afiaiblit insensiblement, le 

 dcieriore, diminue progressivement ses faculies, el finii par le 

 (aire disparaiire." 



Deiixiime l.oi. — " Tout ce que la nature a fail ,hi/u,'iir otx 

 perdre aux individus par rinlluence des circonstances oil leur 

 race se Irouve depuis longlemps exposce, el par consL\]uent, 

 par I'influence de I'eiuploi prcJominani de lei organe, ou 

 par celle d'un dcfaul constant d'usage de telle panic : elle le 

 conserve par la generalion aux nouveaux individus qui en 

 proviennent, pourvuque les changemenlsiiiY"" soient communs 

 aux deux sexes, ou a ceux qui ont produit ces nouveaux 

 individus." 



I have italicised two words in this quotation. It is to this 

 doctrine of Lamarck that the short lerm "doctrine of acquired 

 characters" has been and is applied. 



In the report of a lecture given by me, at the London 

 Institution, in February 1889 (published in N'ATURt of that 

 date), on " Dutwin versus Lamarck," the iwol.iws of Lamarck 

 were quoted in full. In lectures given some three years earlier 

 ( I had pointed out that ihere is no satisfactory evidence that 

 I animals or plants transmit by generation the characters 

 I acquired by llie individual in the way su|>po>cd by Lamarck. 

 It is, I .admit, a very difficult matter 10 determine whether 

 a particular character which makes its appearance in the course 

 of the life of an organism has been "inherited" {i.e. is con- 

 genital) or " acquired." liul lliat has nothing to do with the 

 question as to what we should mean when we say "acquired 

 characters. " The answer to that seems to be ceitain and 

 simple. It is given by Lamarck, and the term directly refers 

 to Lamarck's doctrine. 



(;n the oiher hand, it is the fact, as Sir Edward Fry points 

 out, that Wcisjiann and others have employed the term 

 "acqjired characters " in an extended and modified sense. To 

 this extension I will refer in another letter. 



E. Kav La.nkester. 



