EARLY VIEWS 49 



sative or merely a limiting and determining condition 

 of evolution, the positive cause of which must be found 

 elsewhere. The factor of environment belongs to the 

 latter class, while the factor of use — called the La- 

 marckian factor — belongs to the causative category, 

 as do also those of variation generally, reproduction 

 and heredity. As will appear at a later stage in this 

 lecture, natural selection is not a causative factor, but 

 a Hmiting and directive condition. 



A "character" is any organic or functional mark 

 which serves to distinguish one organism from another. 

 "Specific characters" serve to distinguish the species 

 from each other, and "acquired characters" are those 

 which are gained during a single lifetime by individ- 

 ual organisms, whatever may be the factor or factors 

 that explain their acquisition. Lamarck's theory 

 involved the assumption that acquired characters are 

 transmitted to offspring; and this doctrine, as we shall 

 see, has been rejected by the neo-Darwinians. The 

 question is thought to have some bearing on the 

 doctrine of original sin. 



Lamarck's theory produced Httle impression upon 

 the scientific world. It seemed obviously inadequate, 

 since it was not shown to be appHcable to the vege- 

 table kingdom; ^ and other causes diverted scientists 

 from any serious consideration of its claims. Biolog- 

 ical science was in its infancy, and no sufficient body of 



1 Prof. G. Henslow, however, in The Heredity of Acquired Charac- 

 ters, 1908, finds evidence for the transmission of acquired characters 

 in that direction. 



