Inheritance of Acquired Characters 
acquired character, for it was not inherited by 
its possessor, but acquired by him in his lifetime. 
We must bear in mind that the period in the life 
history of an organism at which a character 
appears, is not necessarily a test as to whether 
it is congenital or acquired, for a great many 
congenital characters, such as a man’s beard, do 
not appear until some years after birth. As we 
have seen, the Neo-Lamarckians believe that it 
is possible for an organism to transmit to its 
offspring characters which it has acquired during 
the course of its existence. But, as we have 
already said, ‘the evidence goes to show that 
such characters are not inherited. For example, 
the tail of the young fox-terrier is not shorter 
than that of other breeds of dogs, notwith- 
standing the fact that its ancestors have for 
generations had the greater portion of their 
caudal appendage removed shortly after birth. 
We do not propose to discuss at any great 
length the vexed question of the inheritance 
of acquired characters, for the simple reason that 
the Neo-Lamarckians have not brought forward 
a single instance which indubitably proves that 
such characters are inherited. 
Mr J. T. Cunningham, in a paper of great 
value and interest, entitled “The Heredity of 
Secondary Sexual Characters in relation to 
Hormones: a Theory of the Heredity of 
Somatogenic Characters,” which appeared in 
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