FIFTY YEARS OF DARWINISM 35 



Weismann raised the question of the hereditary 

 transmission of acquired characters, the very 

 foundation of Lamarckian evolution. Darwin 

 accepted such transmission, and it was in order 

 to account for " the inherited effects of use and 

 disuse, &c.," ^ that he thought out his marvelous 

 hypothesis of pangenesis. If such effects be not 

 transmitted pangenesis becomes unnecessary and 

 Weismann's simpler, more convincing, and bet- 

 ter supported hypothesis of the continuity of the 

 germ-plasm takes its place. It is impossible on 

 the present occasion to speak in any detail of the 

 controversy which has raged intermittently dur- 

 ing the past twenty years on this fascinating sub- 

 ject. I will, however, briefly consider a single 

 example of the error into which, as I believe, 

 Darwin was led by following the Lamarckian 

 theory of hereditary experience. I refer to the 

 interpretation which he suggests for feelings of 

 " the sublime," applying this term to the effect 

 upon the brain of a vast cathedral, a tropical for- 

 est, or a view from a mountain height. Thus, 

 writing to E. Gurney, July 8, 1876, Darwin said 

 on this subject: — ". . . possibly the sense of 

 sublimity excited by a grand cathedral may have 

 some connection with the vague feelings of terror 

 and superstition in our savage ancestors, when 

 they entered a great cavern or gloomy forest." ^ 

 An interesting account is given by Romanes ^ 



^See the letter to Huxley, July 13 (186S?), in Life and Letters, 

 III, p. 44. 

 ' Life and Letters, III, p. 186. 

 ' Ibid., pp. 54, SS. See also I, pp. 64, 65. 



