Ill : WEISMANN AND THE GERM-PLASM 

 THEORY* 



SINCE the appearance of Darwin's epoch- 

 making works and more especially since the 

 ^ death of their author, various attempts have 



been made, at divers times, to take stock of the 

 state of scientific opinion as to the doctrines and 

 theories therein expounded. 



To keep any accurate account of the passage of 

 new theories more or less associated with this line 

 of work would require, what every well-conducted 

 business receives, an annual stock-taking ; for as 

 the seasons roll round and new flowers appear in 

 our gardens, so fresh reconstructions and novel 

 developments of the Darwinian hypotheses come 

 to birth and, in at least some cases, imitate the 

 flowers of the garden by blooming for a while and 

 then disappearing. This is, of course, exactly what 

 might have been expected from the launching 

 into the world of a great and wide-embracing 

 generalization, backed by the vast accumulation 

 of facts which the patient work of its author had 

 enabled him to collect. Of course, we all know that 

 the essential features of the doctrine had been 

 suggested by many others before Darwin arose ; 

 but those who most fully recognize this will also 



* The Evolution Theory. By Dr. August Weismann. Translated 

 r J. Arthur Thomso 

 dvvard Arnold. 1904. 



by J. Arthur Thomson and Margaret N. Thomson. London : 

 Ed 



