

ON THE QUICK GROWING WALNUT 



there is an underlying assumption to the effect 

 that the various modifications of the individual 

 are transmitted to the offspring of the individual. 



Unless such is the case, it is clear that there 

 could be no such thing as the evolution of new 

 species. It would avail nothing for the progeny 

 of an individual that this individual was well 

 adapted to its surroundings, unless the said 

 progeny inherit the characteristics that made such 

 adaptation possible. 



There is no logical escape from that conclusion. 

 Whatever our conception of the mechanism of 

 heredity, or of the exact manner in which the 

 transmission of variation occurs, no one can be an 

 evolutionist who does not believe that acquired 

 characters are transmitted through heredity. 



There was a school of biologists who gained 

 great prominence a few years ago, who denied the 

 possibility of the transmission of acquired traits. 

 Throwing logic to the winds, they based their 

 denials on a metaphysical interpretation of certain 

 observed microscopic structures within the germ- 

 cell. These same biologists, while denying that 

 acquired traits could be transmitted, were at the 

 same time ardent upholders of what they called 

 Darwinian evolution. 



But such a paradoxical contention must of 

 necessity fail to maintain itself for any consider- 



[213] 



