The Non-inheritance of Amputations 169 



this would justify the assertion that the inheritance of 

 acquired characters has not yet been directly proven, only 

 in the case that there were but a few facts or only a 

 single fact that could be brought forward in proof of 

 it. But when on the contrary there are a very large 

 number of facts favorable to a given principle, even 

 though each one of them by itself would not be an 

 absolutely incontestable proof, they would in spite of 

 that have, when taken as a whole, a very great value 

 as proof, and this value would be so much the greater 

 if the opponents of the principle, in seeking to deny the 

 incontestability of the individual facts, are forced to 

 resort to as many specially devised subtleties. 



On the other hand the non-inheritance of certain 

 gross instantaneous modifications, such as amputations 

 and other similar things, of which Weismann and his 

 followers make so great a case, proves nothing against 

 the inheritance of functional adaptations which are of quite 

 different nature. 



For let us consider the dynamic equilibrium existing 

 in the adult state in a given small portion of the soma, 

 and let us suppose also that this equilibrium was estab- 

 lished by a process of epigenetic nature dependent upon 

 all the rest of the organism. If this local equilibrium 

 is suddenly very much disturbed as is the case in 

 amputations, instead of gradually and slowly as in 

 functional adaptations, one can understand that it can 

 and must be promptly restored in the neighborhood 

 of the wound or in any case in the limited area of 

 the stump, before the disturbance has time to extend 

 much farther. Therefore if there is a definite place 

 in the organism to which non-transitory derangements 

 and the variations of equilibrium caused thereby must 



