530 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 66. 



The other paper was by Dr. Arnold Graf on 

 ^ The Problem of the Transmission of Acquired 

 Characters. ' 



Dr. Graf discussed the views of the modern 

 schools of evolutionists and adopted the view 

 that the transmission of acquired characters 

 must be admitted to occur. He cited several 

 examples which seemed to support this view, 

 and especially disovissed the sucker in leeches 

 as an adaptation to parasitism and the evolution 

 of the chambered shell in a series of fossil 

 Cephalopods. 



Professor Osborn remarked in criticism of 

 Dr. Graaf's paper that this statement does 

 not appear to recognize the distinction be- 

 tween ontogenic and phylogenic variation, or 

 that the adult form of any organism is an ex- 

 ponent of the stirp, or constitution. If the en- 

 vironment is normal the adult would be normal, 

 but if the environment (which includes all the 

 atmospheric, chemical, nutritive, motor and 

 psychical circumstances under which the ani- 

 mal is reared) were to change, the adult would 

 change correspondingly ; and these changes 

 would be so profound that in many cases it 

 would appear as if the constitution or stirp had 

 also changed. Illustrations might be given of 

 changes of the most profound character induced 

 by changes in either of the above factors of the 

 environment, and in the case of the motor factor 

 or animal motion the habits of the animal 

 might, in the course of a life time, profoundly 

 modify its structure. For example, if the 

 human infant were brought up in the branches 

 of a tree as an arboreal type instead of as a 

 terrestrial, bi-pedal type, there is little doubt 

 that some of the well-known early adaptations 

 to arboreal habit (such as the turning in of the 

 soles of feet and the grasping of the hands) 

 might be retained and cultivated, thus a pro- 

 foundly different type of man would be pro- 

 duced. Similar changes in the action of en- 

 vironment are constantly in progress in nature, 

 since there is no doubt that the changes of en- 

 vironment and the new habits which it so brings 

 about far outstrip all changes in constitution. 

 Tliis fact, which has not been svifiiciently empha- 

 sized before, offers an explanation of the evi- 

 dence advanced by Cope and other writers that 

 change in the forms of the skeletons of the ver- 



tebrates first appears in ontogeny and subse- 

 quently in phylogeny. During the enormously 

 long period of time in which habits induced on- 

 togenic variations it is possible for natural 

 selection to work very slowly and gradually 

 upon predispositions to useful correlated varia- 

 tions, and thus what are primarily ontogenic 

 variations become slowly apparent as phylogenic 

 variations or congenital characters of the race. 

 Man, for instance, has been upon the earth per- 

 haps seventy thousand years ; natural selection 

 has been slowly operating upon certain of these 

 predispositions, but has not yet eliminated those 

 traces of the human arboreal habits, nor com- 

 pletely adapted the human frame to the upright 

 position. This is as much an expression of habit 

 and ontogenic variation as it is a constitutional 

 character. Very similar views were expressed 

 to the speaker in a conversation recently held 

 with Prof. Lloyd Morgan, and it appears as if 

 a similar conclusion had been arrived at inde- 

 pendently. Prof. Morgan believed that this 

 explanation could be applied to all cases of 

 adaptive modification, but it is evident that this 

 cannot be so, because the teeth here undergo the 

 same progressively adaptive evolution along 

 determinate lines as the skeleton, and j^et it is 

 well known that they do not improve by use, 

 but rather deteriorate. Thus the explanation 

 is not one which satisfies all cases, but it does 

 seem to meet, and to a certain extent under- 

 mine, the special cases of evidence of the in- 

 heritance of acquired characters, collected by 

 Prof. Cope in his well-known papers upon this 

 subject. C. L. Bristol, 



Secretary. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



At the meeting of the Section of Geology 

 and Mineralogy of the New York Academy of 

 Sciences, held March 16th, Prof. J. J. Steven- 

 son in the chair, the first paper of the evening 

 was presented by Mr. Heinrich Ries on 'A Visit 

 to the Bauxite Mines of Georgia and Alabama.' 

 The speaker first outlined the occurrence of 

 bauxite in Europe and in the United States, 

 illustrating his remarks by means of lantern 

 slides. He then described his trip through the 

 bauxite region of the States mentioned, using 

 the same method of illustration and exhibiting 



