634 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol, V. No. 121. 



phenomena of memory as a plausible ex- 

 planation. Stimuli from without and from 

 within the organism leave a record on the 

 brain-cells which give the form to con- 

 sciousness, when the latter invades them, 

 along the guiding lines of associations. 

 Why should not the germ-plasma be capa- 

 ble of a similar record of stimuli which is 

 expressed in the recapitulatory growth of 

 the embryo? He thought that the evi- 

 dence pointed to such a process. These 

 stimuli affected the soma and the germ- 

 plasma simultaneously in accordance with 

 the doctrine of Diplogenesis, but that the 

 soma only records results in each tissue 

 which are appropriate to the functions of 

 the same, while the germ-plasma and brain- 

 cells may record them all. The certainty 

 of record in both cases he supposed to de- 

 pend on the frequency and strength of the 

 impression, as is known to be the case with 

 the memory of the mental organ ism . Hence 

 mutilations or single impressions are rarely 

 recorded, while those due to the constant 

 and habitual movements are recorded, and 

 form the physical basis of growth and of 

 evloution of type. 



He further remarked that the belief that 

 natural selection originates structure cannot 

 be entertained, as paleontological evidence 

 shows that evolution has proceeded by very 

 gradual additions and subtractions of char- 

 acter, which required long periods to be- 

 come of any value in the struggle for ex- 

 istence, sometimes an entire geological 

 period being occupied in the elaboration of 

 a chai-acter to structural usefulness. 



Finally he referred to the physical mech- 

 anism of mental phenomena, and stated 

 that some physiologists require a com- 

 pleted machine for the performance of 

 special mental functions. The speaker 

 called attention to the fact that the funda- 

 mental sensations do not even require a 

 nervous system for their expression. Thus 

 Protozoa appear to experience the sensa- 



tions of hunger, temperature and the mus- 

 cular sense of resistance. Hence it is as 

 true of the physical basis of mental as of 

 other functions that the function produces 

 the structure, while structure merely spe- 

 cializes or perfects function. 



ORGANIC SELECTION. 

 In certain recent publications* an hypoth- 

 esis has been presented which seems in 

 some degree to mediate between the two 

 rival theories of heredity. The point of 

 view taken in these publications is briefly 

 this : Assuming the operation of natural 

 selection as currently held, and assuming 

 also that individual organisms through 

 adaptation acquire modifications or new 

 characters, then the latter will exercise a 

 directive influence on the former quite in- 

 dependently of any direct inheritance of 

 acquired characters. For organisms which 

 survive through adaptive modification will 

 hand on to the next generation any ' coin- 

 cident variations ' (t. e., congenital varia- 

 tions in the same direction as adaptive 

 modifications) which they may chance to 

 have, and also allow farther variations in 

 the same direction. In any given series of 

 generations, the individuals of which sur- 

 vive thi'ough their susceptibility to modifi- 



*H. F. Osborn, Proc. N. Y. Acad, of Sci., meeting 

 of March 9 and April 13, 1896, reported in Science, 

 April 3 and November 27, 1896. C. Lloyd Morgan, 

 ' Habit and Instinct,' October, 1896, pp. 307 f£., also 

 printed earlier in Science, November 20, 1896. J. 

 Mark Baldwin, discussion before N. Y. Acad, of Soi., 

 meeting of January 31, reported in full in Sciknob, 

 March 20, 1896, also Amer. Naturalist, June and July, 

 1896. The following brief statement has been pre- 

 pared in consultation with Principal Morgan and 

 Professor Osborn. I may express indebtedness to 

 both of them for certain suggestions which they 

 allow me to use and which I incorporate verbally in 

 the text. Among them is the suggestion that ' Or- 

 ganic Selection ' should be the title of this paper. 

 While feeling that this cooperation gives greater 

 weight to the communication, at the same time I am. 

 alone responsible for the publication of it. 



