ARE ACQUIRED CHARACTERS HEREDITARY? 329 
i#t.—At first sight this seems hair-splitting, but it is a crucial point. 
Through his vigorous exercise the blacksmith develops a muscular 
arm worthy of admiration; the shoemaker acquires skeletal and 
muscular peculiarities less admirable. There are many permanent 
and profound modifications associated with particular occupations. 
Are-we to believe, it is asked, that the occupation of the parents has no 
influence on the offspring? Are we to believe, it is asked, that the 
children of soldier, sailor, tinker, tailor, are in no way affected by the 
parental functions ? 
It would be interesting to have precise data in regard to this, but it 
is generally admitted that when parents have healthful occupations 
their offspring are likely to be more vigorous. The matter is compli- 
cated by the difficulty of estimating how much is due to good nurture 
before and after birth. It is not unlikely, too, that some profound 
parental modifications may influence the general constitution, may 
even affect the germ-cells, and may thus have results in the offspring. 
But unless the offspring show peculiarities im the same direction as the 
original modifications, we have no data bearing precisely on the ques- 
tion at issue. 
A belief in the inheritance of modifications was perhaps expressed 
in the old proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the 
children’s teeth are set on edge’’—a proverb which Ezekiel with such 
solemnity said was not any more to be used in Israel. Now if “setting 
on edge”’ was a structural modification, and if the children’s teeth were 
“set on edge”’ as their fathers’ had been before them, there would bea 
presumption in favour of the transmission of this acquired character, 
though it would be still necessary to inquire carefully whether the 
children had not been in the vineyard too. But if, as Romanes said, 
the children were born with wry necks, we should have to deal with 
the inheritance of an indirect result of the parent’s vagaries of appetite, 
and not with any direct representation in inheritance of the particular 
modification produced in the paternal dentition. 
Misunderstanding IX.— Appealing to data from not more than two 
generations.—It has often been pointed out that animals transported 
to a new country or environment may exhibit some modification 
apparently the result of the novel influence, and that their offspring 
in the same environment may exhibit the same modification in a 
greater degree. Thus sheep may show a change in the character and 
length of their fleece, and their progeny may show the same change 
more markedly. 
