118 THE DIRECT INFLUENCE 



rapid alteration, the activities affected soon as- 

 sume a fairly steady rate, determined directly by 

 the reaction velocities of the substances con- 

 cerned, and the change goes no further than that 

 of a purely physiological, or, strictly speaking, 

 physico-chemical, accommodation. If the change 

 in question is introduced in the developmental 

 period of the individual, the members and organs 

 not fully mature may take on unusual structures 

 and assume aberrant or variant forms, while if 

 the resting seed or spore is germinated under 

 altered conditions, all purely irritational re- 

 sponses are eliminated and the entire individual 

 may show a more or less atypic ontogenetic pro- 

 cedure. 



This somatic variability in response to environ- 

 ment is a matter of common observation, but de- 

 viations of this character are of but httle impor- 

 tance in heredity unless they or their effects are 

 repeated in successive generations. This trans- 

 mission of somatogenically induced characters is 

 the cause of our confusion and the source of our; 

 doubts, constituting as it does the essence of the 

 controversy as to the " heredity of acquired char- 

 acters." On the one hand Weismannists predi- 

 cate an isolated current of heredity coursing from 

 germ-cell to germ-cell, yielding qualities that 

 direct ontogeny, but receiving nothing in return 

 except nutrition and continuance, while on the 

 other hand a by no means voiceless constituency 

 presses for the acceptance of the conclusion that 



