Consideration of Weismann’s Arguments 189 
Even an imperfect answer to this question would be 
satisfactory.” 149 
This argument which Weismann considered as the 
strongest, without indeed saying so definitely but allow- 
ing it to be seen, is in reality the feeblest of all. Even 
admitting that the mechanism of transmission may be 
at present quite inconceivable, that is no reason for believ- 
ing that it does not exist, since the number of phenomena 
and even of natural laws which we must regard as cer- 
tainly established, even though we cannot so far explain 
them in any way is, one can well say, infinite. It recalls 
the former objection to Newton’s theory that it is incon- 
ceivable how the heavenly bodies could mutually attract 
one another at such a distance, and like this it is of no 
logical value. Apart from this it can have only one 
very important practical consequence, (and it has had 
this effect and as a matter of fact is still producing it), 
i. e. of bringing the reality of this inheritance into ques- 
tion with very many investigators and stimulating them 
therefore to a zealous search for a conclusive experiment 
which should once for all establish or exclude it. 
In any case it is interesting to note that Nussbaum 
whose theory of the continuity of the germ cells sug- 
gested to Weismann his fundamental conception of the 
continuity of the germ plasm, is opposed to him in that 
he does not exclude the possibility of the transmission 
of acquired characters. For immediately after the expo- 
sition of his theory he states “since seeds and eggs are 
stored up in the parent organism, they are therefore 
subjected to the action of conditions which bring about 
149Warwin: The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domes- 
tication. H. P. 367. 
