856 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 76. 



tion. Germinal selection, however, signi- 

 fies that certain germinal units grow larger 

 through increased nutrition ; that this 

 purely acquired character is transmitted to 

 their descendants, and that these stronger 

 determinants leave no more progeny, but 

 simply stronger progeny ; the weaker deter- 

 minants leave no fewer, biit simply weaker 

 descendants. In short, the process is wholly 

 and simply the continued inheritance of an 

 acquired character. In the whole process 

 there is no selection or rejection, but merely a 

 continuance of individual determinants with 

 the transmission of characters acquired by 

 them to their descendants. How very dif- 

 ferent this is from the usual meaning of the 

 term selection Professor Weismann, perhaps 

 better than any other, could explain. 



As to the evidence for germinal selection 

 Weismann frankly avows that he " can ad- 

 duce nothing except that it is at present 

 the only explanation that can be given," 

 aud in this regard it should be observed 

 that it stands upon a distinctly different 

 basis from personal selection or Jiistonal se- 

 lection, each of which is directly supported 

 by a very large number of observations 

 and is a legitimate deduction from the 

 facts, whereas germinal selection is confess- 

 edly merely an inductive speculation. 



Evidence should be the crucial test for 

 this as for any theory, and yet it is at this 

 very point that it is weakest. ISTot a parti- 

 cle of evidence is adduced in proof of a 

 single proposition named. Apart from the 

 fundamental conception of determinants, 

 which is still a mere matter of speculation 

 and upon which the gravest doubts exist in 

 the minds of many eminent men, some 

 evidence may be adduced against certain 

 of the propositions named: 



1. The idea that the size of a determi- 

 nant corresponds to the size and vigor of 

 the part to which it gives rise, or the de- 

 terminate as Weismann calls it, is neither a 

 necessary conclusion nor indeed a highly 



probable one. If space permitted, much 

 evidence might be brought forward, based 

 on a study of precocious development and 

 larval organs, to show that the size of the 

 cell or region of the egg which gives rise to 

 a certain part does not generally correspond 

 to the size of the part, but rather to the 

 time of its formation. To be sure cells and 

 regions of the egg are not detei-minants in 

 Weismann's sense, but they are frequently 

 the Anlagen of organs, and as such are the 

 nearest approach to the determinants of 

 Weismann which may be recognized by ob- 

 servation. Judging the unseen therefore 

 by the seen, there is a certain amount of 

 evidence that the longevity of a determi- 

 nant and the rapidity of the transformations 

 which it is able to undergo, rather than its 

 size, stands in direct relation to the size and 

 vigor of the determinate, and it may well 

 be that the simpler and smaller determi- 

 nants, and not the larger ones, possess the 

 greatest stability and longevity. 



2. " Every determinant battles stoutly 

 with its neighbors for food." I suppose 

 Professor Weismann must regard this as a 

 mere figure of speech, in fact not only the 

 battle and the means of warfare, but the 

 combatants aud the cause of battle must 

 all be figurative, as they are all imaginarj'. 

 But what evidence or probability is there 

 that there is not food enough for every de- 

 terminant to live on and grow fat? Do 

 the determinants increase in geometrical 

 ratio; does each species require a different 

 kind of food, and must we after all suppose 

 that with divine prescience nature has 

 taken care to supply less food to the deter- 

 minants than they need in order that they 

 may battle with each other? Such ques- 

 tions are asked in good faith, though one 

 shrinks from asking them lest he may be 

 classed bj^ Weismann with ' the hotspurs 

 of biologj', who clamor to know forth- 

 with how the molecules behave, * * 

 * * * * * forgetful that all our 



