86 GENETICS 



part in the formation of the new individual, hence 

 it was called *' pangenesis," or origin from all. 



Nothing we have subsequently learned of minute 

 cell structure favors this hypothesis, while many 

 facts go quite against it. Moreover, it is directly 

 opposed to the theory of the continuity of germplasm 

 so convincingly set forth later on by Weismann. 

 Darwin indeed advanced it only in the most tenta- 

 tive way, being entirely ready to see it abandoned at 

 any time for something better. It at least per- 

 formed one valuable service to science, namely, that 

 of demonstrating how far investigators were from 

 an adequate conception of any means by which 

 somatic modifications might become incorporated in 

 the germ-cells. 



We must acknowledge, however, with Lloyd 

 Morgan that the fact that a mechanism for the trans- 

 fer of somatic characters to the germ-cells has not 

 been discovered, is not proof that such a mechanism 

 does not exist. It may simply be beyond our present 

 powers of penetration. 



12. Evidence for Transmission of Acquired 

 Characters Inconclusive 



The evidence for the inheritance of acquired 

 characters was, for a long time, taken for granted. 

 This theory was the most obvious explanation of 

 many facts and so was accepted without question. 

 An obvious interpretation, however, is not always the 

 correct one. The sun appears to go around the 

 earth, but astronomers assure us that it does not. 



