Organic Inheritance 13 



whole, apart from the germ cells, has no in- 

 fluence upon inheritance. This naturally leads 

 up to the doctrine of Weismann that acquired 

 characters are not transmitted by inheritance. 

 While traits may be transmitted that the indi- 

 vidual has himself inherited, those that have 

 been acquired by his own actions cannot be 

 passed on to posterity. This germ plasm con- 

 tinues along through different generations 

 as an unending stream and each individual body 

 acts as a receptacle and conserver of an im- 

 perishable part. 



The most vital part of every body cell is a 

 minute spot called the nucleus. In the sex 

 cells there are located in the nuclei marvelously 

 minute germinal units known as chromosomes. 

 Each of these chromosomes contains deter- 

 miners, every one of which acts as a determin- 

 ant of some hereditary character. It is even 

 believed that a special spot in each chromosome 

 holds the determiner for each character. Dif- 

 ferent chromosomes may come from different 

 ancestors and they may be combined in many 

 varying ways, which accounts for different 



