294 



NA TURE 



[January 24, 1895 



once more. o the ca-,e of pigment i"/''?,''°" '°„';,^^!j l^ 

 thousands of generations no P'g™"^!^^'' ''""„^ffXP„ ^n j^' 

 on the lower side of a AaI fish, no light having lailen on it 

 The skris experimentally expose 1 to light and pigmen. 

 appeas- therefore the acquired character of absence ol pig- 

 m'^'nt! af.er thousands of generations, has produced no heredij^r 

 chanee, has not altered the potentialities of the tusue 1 he 

 „gament is fallacious because the question of how m-ch P'K^ 

 "fntis entirely ignored, and also the question how long the 

 development of piiiment experimentally take,. 1 he l^"^" o' 

 The a^^ament is entirely on'.he other side. Assume in this 

 case, as Prof Linkester does in his general "g»l"-^?'' 'l";' ']>; 

 ^ character, the absence of pigment, is an ^'^^'^^^.'^h/'"^^^/: 

 Then experiment has shown that this character is 'nherited 

 that is ?o say. the acti.n of light obviously overcomes a 

 resistance in producing pigment, and after years does not 

 produce as m'uch as Sn^L upper side is present from the 

 beginning. This resistance can be nothing eKe 'han here! ty 

 the inheritance of a tendency to pigmentlessness. Therefore 

 the acquired character is inherited. It is "";l«"'f [^;'^^;,"„ 

 dispuilble that the argument propounded ^X P'of Lankes er 

 proves the inheritance of acquired characiers, if it is P'operly 

 applied in accordance with the facts. This is o" the -sumption 

 that the "old characters" are acquired. If they are no 

 Icqui red the argument has no force at all. The facts allow u. 

 foTy that the tendency to pigmentlessness or the resistance to 

 the development of pigment on the lower side » f:' Aounder is 

 certainly inherited, but whether or not it is due to the absence 

 of light during many successive generations we do "ot know^ 

 As Sir Edward Fry says, if we by definition confine the term 

 "acquired characef- within the limits of an indivdua history, 

 then of course an acquired character can never be inherited. 1 he 

 qu"i°on is whether the conditions which produce a change in 

 ?he individual can affect the offspring? The experimental 

 investigation must lake the following course Suppose a given 

 amount of stimulation X to act upon individuals "J^"««^ '^ 

 generations, producing in the first generation a result ... 1 hen 

 fhe qiestio,^ is if X remains the same, does .v remain constant 

 or not? If there is no inherited effect then .v must remain 

 constant in all succeeding generations. If v '""eases l^ysom 

 amount, however small, and becomes x^a then a is no 

 acquired by the individual, but inherued, and it is clear that 

 the result will go on increasing to .. + 2.<, .. h3«..and so on to 

 , + „a, where n represents the number of generations In my 

 own opinion, there is evidence that something ol this kind does 

 occur, though definite investigations '''^■""^VrvviNrHAM 

 Plymouth, January It. J- T. CtNNlNGHAM. 



As one who has been reading the discussion in your pages 

 on the meaning of the term "• acquire! characters, I may 

 perhaps be permitted to direct attention to the history of the 

 ierm It was first used with reference not to spec.es but to 

 individuals. Every character of an individuil is either derived 

 from the fecundated ovum or acquired during life. Ihis was 

 obvious; and the question arose: Could aciaired characters be 

 transmitted ? As long as the term is applied to an individual. 

 it has that kind of precision which is desirable in all scientihc 

 terminology, namely, that it perfectly explains itself.^ 



Glasgow, January 12. J"i"< Cleland. 



Chinese Theories of the Origin of Amber. 

 In my letter on "Some Orienlal Beliefs about Uees and 

 Wasps "( N AT URK, vol. 1. p. 3°. May '». '^94). 1 have traced 

 the origin of the Chinese belief in the pioUction of amber 

 from bee, into the presence in amber of hymenoptorous remains. 

 Annarenlly developed from this belief, there is another mis- 

 conception recorded by Ch.ang II«.i (killed 300 A.D.), whose 

 Dajsaeeon ihe subject reads as follows : " In ' .>,hinsicn.chuin, 

 it iiwid, the re.ins of Ihe pine and arborvits, afier remaining 

 underground for one thousand year.,, are turned Mo lachyma 

 cMO! fKuh-linu),' which is turned into amber. Nolwilhstanding 

 thi. statement, the .Mount Tai produces Pachyma, but no 

 amber ; whereas Yungchang . . . produces amber, but no 

 P.achvroa. Another ihcry is that amber is made by burning 

 the honeycombs. Which i» true of these two theories is not yet 



Of all Chinese theories propounded lo account for the origin 



I Idtmifi'd thu» in Dr. K. IfV. " Nilion S.imbviiMi «hi." part vii 

 "I'uh.wuti-chl." lorn, iv., •lib. " V..i.wuh. 



NO. I317. VOL. 51] 



of amber, the most veracious one is given in Li Shi-Chi^ns 

 «,.rk» thus- " Amber originates in the resin of pines; when 

 ihe pines, with their bnanches and knots '">"";>"!'>• f°J"?; 

 were healed by the sun, the resin came out of the wood , it 

 co.i"uUied after days and sunk underground, and after under- 

 going subterraneous'changes. left behind the '-troussubstar.ee 

 [which is amber]. In this condition still it has in 1 tl e tenacity 

 Lf resin, so th.at when it is rubbed and wanned between the 

 palms, it can pick up particles of dust. Fhose '"^ects m '1^ 

 enclo'ure had cohered with it before its sinking underground _^ 



Besides the resin of pines, ihe ^''"dat.o" ro.n the 1 ung 



<,Uquidambar Maximo-vUzii) is asserted by Ivin T-'i-Sh'^g 



lived in the tenth cenuiry .^.t-.) 10 be a nascent fonn of amb=r 



the opinion well coinciding wi.h ihe Western idea that has given 



to stvrax the name " Liquidambar. " 



In "Shishwoh" (written in the fifth century .^.D.) amber 

 is said to be formed from the subterraneous metamorphosis ot 

 the gum of peach trees,'' which reminds us of the simile, Like 

 gum from the cherry," used by Pliny in his exposition of the 

 resinous origin of amber.' ,. /-^ r ■!,«„<. 



Some other theories are full of absurdity. One of the e 

 holds that the dragon's blood buried underground turns to 

 amb^r, and the demon's to agate' Also, the etj^mologicaj 

 origin of " Hii peh," the Chinese name for amber, is .nvolved 

 in myth. In ancient times this word was written in two let.er , 

 together signifying "Tiger's Soul," which is expl.a ned in this 

 wfy: "Arnightthe tiger applies its one eye for illainma Uon 

 and another for vision. When _ it is shot with arrow he light 

 of the eye, which is the tiger's soul, sinks underground and 

 mrns into a white slone Amber resembles this stone, 



'^ Ac^ordingTo'" Ilwai-nan-tze " (written in the second centu^j 

 nc) " the dodder is the outgrowth of amber. Almost 



inexplicable as this stnry may appear, I have found certain clue> 

 to its elucidation. Kau Y.i (lived in the second cen.ury A. D 

 Lives "Nu-lo" {i.e. Usuea hnghsimar _^% "" V T< <t- 

 " llsze '■ (.■ r. the dodder).'^ From this it is evident that the 

 early Chinese have confounded Usnea with dodder-.he con- 

 fusion caused by the superficial resemblance and simiUar habnal 

 of the two plants.- Now, .here is a Chinese belief record-l 

 about 240 n.c, that Fadiyma cocos is the root of dodder 

 which has doubtless grown out of the common occurrence upo 

 and under the pines of the L'snea am Pachyma. An -a-, h^. 

 I'achyma h.a.l been held as an mtermed.ary phase 'h ough 1 ch 

 resins were to pass into amber (see above), it would seeu tha 



he story which affirms the dodder to be the "^'S'-^th ■« 

 amber, was not inconsistent with the understanding of the earl> 



Chinese theorisers. Kumagusi; Minakai.v 



January 11. 



Rhynchodemus Terrestris in Germany. 



Is NATUKKof October 25. 1894 (P- 617). Mr- Scha.11 

 mentioned Khynchodtmm tenalris, as stated in Germany, nea, 

 \\'uzburK. by Semper. It would seem that the worm w.v 

 exceedmRly r.are. But I found it repeatedly at several points .., 

 S" .nyandThuringia. in the mountains and in the platn ., 

 leaved and fir wood, under moss or dead e.aves. Suffu.».n. 

 auen.ion would detect it without doubt m many region. 

 Recently Mr. Ehrmann found several specimens 'eeJ'ng on ■> 

 dead Arioit emfiriconim. 11. .->imku • 



Leipzig. 



The " Proceedings of the Chemical Society. " 

 TMK tille-page and index of this periodical h^^e j«t co.r 

 to hand. an,l on the liilc-pageoccur the words J-'l^^'L^^. 

 Secretaries." It appears 10 me right thal^uthors -should k„u^^ 



:i " Pan-liau K.'.og-muh," 1578, arl. " H.i-pih." 



6 u'udon, " lincyclopx.li» of Plants." 1B80, p. 798. 



7 " Na.ural Hi.ory," Engli.h iransLilion, liohn » edilion. ^o.. vi , p. 401. 

 "lw.li Chlnii-Shih. /o^. iiV- , .„,... 



9 " l'.in.n.iu Kn.igmuti, I"'- "I- and arl. 11". 



lUs^d";^':':; u'."rMivo,hi-, .n..^. in .he 5*.*„^»/.,<^*» 



"li'ch'.nz Hwl appear, to have well distinBui-hcd ihc t«o plantf. Ha 

 „y,, •' if, "a ii.e^.1?pon ih. dodder, and ihc dodder ..p..n lrc«. P-h- 



w.ih-chl," he. til. 

 11" I,ll.»lii Chi.nls.i'i, l(K. ill. text. 



