492 PHILOSOPHIC ZOOLOGY 



acters of the germ from which it has been developed, but the 

 soma has no direct influence upon the germs of which it is the 

 bearer. 



Organic Selection. — Lloyd Morgan, Baldwin, and Osborn have 

 elaborated a view (of which Weismann himself suggested the 

 possibility) as to the possibility of co-operation between germinal 

 and somatic variations in the interests of the species. Even if 

 we admit that the latter (acquired characters) are non- trans- 

 missible, it by no means follows that they have no evolutionary 

 import. However unimportant the soma may be as to the pro- 

 vision of variations that can be inherited and so help in the 

 making of new species, it is at least the bearer of germ-cells, to 

 which its survival and well-being are of the first importance. If 

 therefore, it is able to accommodate itself to its surroundings so 

 as to survive and leave offspring, it will give variations which have 

 arisen in its germ-cells a chance of being preserved. Accommo- 

 dation, i.e. the rise of acquired characters, is consequently inti- 

 mately bound up with the adaptation of the species. 



It must not be regarded as definitely settled that acquired 

 characters are never transmitted, although many supposed in- 

 stances have been explained away. A vast amount of observa- 

 tion and experiment is still necessary, and dogmatism is at present 

 quite out of place. 



The question still remains as to whether variations are inde- 

 pendent of the action of the environment, directly due to its action, 

 or to some extent dependent upon it. There are probably perhaps 

 several possibilities. The germ-cells, for instance, are in many 

 cases so sheltered from the action of surroundings that some of 

 their variations may well be inherent. It is also well-nigh certain 

 that there is such a thing as environmental variation. But here 

 there are two possibilities. The action of the surroundings may 

 directly set up variations, or it may simply act in such a way as 

 to favour variational possibilities, i.e. it may direct and further, but 

 not absolutely initiate. Nor is its action necessarily limited to 

 either alternative. 



HEREDITY 



In cases of egg-development it is necessarily the germ-cells 

 that are the means of transmitting characters from one eenera- 

 tion to the next. Innumerable investigations upon such cells 



