PART IV 



HYPER-DARWINISM WEISMANN, KIDD 

 CHAPTER XVIII 



An intenser assertion of struggle Not on ground of experiment ; evi- 

 dence is ambiguous On ground of a theory of heredity Darwin's 

 theory (Pangenesis) assumed derivation of embryonic qualities from 

 qualities and tissues of parental organisms Use-inheritance possible 

 or probable on this view But " Atavism " forced the concession, 

 some " gemmules " had passed on undeveloped from earlier genera- 

 tions till they found their chance Galton's figures for resemblance 

 to ancestors Hence theories asserting " continuity of the germ 

 plasm" Parable of the Hierarchy Galton (" Stirp ") does not 

 absolutely deny the possibility of use-inheritance But in Weis- 

 mann's earlier and more consistent views, founded on by Mr. Kidd, 

 amphimixis is the only cause of variation Extrusion of one of the 

 " polar bodies " securing ( ?) non-identity of all offspring of same 

 pair Permutations and combinations of qualities of unicellular 

 organisms Nature selecting fittest adults, and in them best germ 

 plasm Parable of the suckers Of the Nile No new quality 

 arises, but amount of each telling quality increases Qualities arose 

 originally, Lamarck fashion, from environment, when unicellular 

 life lay open to its pressure Unicellular organisms (propagating 

 by fission) and germ plasm are potentially immortal Correlation 

 alleged between sex and (natural) death; now sex is absent from 

 the unicellular world Natural selection might account for the pre- 

 dominance (if not origin} of sex if Weismann would assume the 

 necessary competition Romanes alleges that natural selection 



233 



