NOTE BY TRANSLATOR 



T N preparing the English edition of the present work, I have 

 -■- had the great advantage of being able to consiih Professor 

 Weismann personally with regard to many of the more ditificult 

 passarges." Only those who have attempted to make a translation 

 of an abstruse work from German manuscript, can appreciate 

 the difficulties of rendering such a work into good English, and 

 at the same time of keeping closely to the text. As the time in 

 which the translation had to be prepared was a comparatively 

 short one, I have been unable to revise the style as thoroughly 

 as I could have wished, but trust that the author's meaning has 

 been expressed wdth tolerable accuracy. 



In the case of special technical terms which have no recog- 

 nised English equivalents, I have in all cases added the German 

 word in brackets the first time they are used. For the extremely 

 useful and untranslateable word ' Anlage/ the somewhat awkward 

 term ' primary constituent ' has been used when it refers to the 

 concrete vital units : in other cases, it has been rendered by 

 ' rudiment ; ' or, when it has a more abstract meaning, by ' pre- 

 disposition.' The words ' Eigenschaft,' ' Charakter,' ' Merkmal,' 

 and ' Qualitat,' are often used synonymously by the author, and 

 have therefore been indiscriminately translated by ' character- 

 istic,' 'character,' 'peculiarity,' and ' quality.' 



I must express my thanks to Dr. G. H. Parker, of Harvard 

 University, Cambridge, Mass., who kindly undertook a first 

 revision of Chapters XIII. and XIV., and thereby rendered an 

 earlier publication of the book possible ; as well as to my friend 

 and colleague Mr. Franck Arnold, for help in elucidating some 

 of the more complicated sentences, and for many suggestions. 



W. N. PARKER. 

 Cardif. Nov. iZth, 1892. 



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