SIDE ISSUES ELIMINATED 19I 



my second lecture I explained to you the rival the- 

 ories of neo-Lamarckians and neo- Darwinians as to 

 the transmission of acquired characters. Lamarck 

 had maintained, at the commencement of the nine- 

 teenth century, that the natural evolution of species 

 is accomplished by the transmission of organic varia- 

 tions originally produced by the use, or non-use, of 

 organs. This view came to be described technically 

 as the transmission of "acquired characters." Pro- 

 fessor Weismann not very many years ago assailed 

 Lamarck's doctrine, and denied that acquired char- 

 |\acters are, or can be, transmitted, basing his denial 

 /upon results of investigation into the respective func- 

 f tions of germ-cells and somatic cells. ^ It has been 

 thought that if his denial has been made good, we 

 must surrender our belief in the transmission of 

 Adam's fallen condition to his posterity. We have 

 therefore to consider whether Weismann' s conclusion 

 constitutes a scientific result with which we must 

 reckon; and whether, if so, it is inconsistent with the 

 doctrine of original sin. 



Before undertaking this the chief remaining task 

 of these lectures, I wish to make a digression — one, 

 however, which may help us to avoid confusing side 

 issues, and thus more clearly to understand exactly 

 what is involved in discussing the problem of the 



1 Germ-cells discharge the function of propagating the species. 

 Somatic cells combine to build up the soma or individual organism. 



