32 Outline of Genetics 



Dr. Arnold Engler (8) found, however, that in the 

 seedHngs in his nursery growth in height distinctly 

 decreased as the altitude or latitude from which the 

 seed came increased. He also found that seeds from 

 pines which had been crippled by growing in poor soil 

 conditions gave rise to crippled plants when grown in 

 good soil. In many cases, trees of the third generation 

 still showed the habit "acquired" by their grandparents 

 in different habitats. 



These are striking results, but it is well to bear in 

 mind all of the possibilities. Engler might have been 

 'deahng with slightly different strains of trees, differing 

 in germinal constitution; or it may have been another 

 case of the "false inheritance of acquired characters" 

 that was explained in connection with corn. Seeds 

 from higher latitudes and altitudes might well have been 

 smaller, so that we should have expected smaller progeny, 

 even when grown in the lowlands.^ 



There are several examples of what seems to be 

 inheritance of acquired characters in simpler plants, but 

 opinion is not settled on interpretation of results. Jen- 

 nings' statement (see p. 24) includes the bacteria. 

 The work of Hansen (ii) is interesting. This investi- 

 gator took isolated yeast cells, which, when cultivated 

 under ordinary conditions, uniformly gave rise to spore- 

 bearing forms, and subjected them for a time to the 

 highest temperature at which growth could still occur. 

 As a result he procured a race which has been cultivated 

 under ordinary conditions for twelve years without once 

 developing spores. 



^ We have reason to believe the size of the seed ma3' affect the size 

 of the resulting plant even in such forms as coniferous trees (Munns i6). 



