1890 PEOFESSOE WEISMAXN'S THEOEY 239 



For the most part the youuger Enghsh naturahsts 

 have accepted Professor Weismann's theory, which, 

 by the waj", had long ago been anticipated by Mr. 

 Francis G-alton, and Mr. Romanes was not much 

 supported in his opposition, or, rather, his non- 

 adherence to Weismannism. 



Linnean Society, Burlington House, Loudon, W. : Maich 21, 1890. 



My dear Dyer, — I have come to the conclusion 

 that anything published in ' Xature ' might as weU 

 never have been pubHshed at all; and therefore have 

 come here to-day in order to look through the back 

 numbers of ' Xature,' with a view to repubhshing as a 

 small book the various things that I have contributed 

 during the past twenty years. Thus it is I find that 

 the explanation which I gave to Herbert Spencer re 

 Panmixia and his articles on the ' Factors of Organic 

 Evolution,' appeared in August 25, 1887, and showed 

 that his whole argument was in the air. 



I have also read my own article on Panmixia, 

 written about two months ago, and pubhshed last 

 week. The result is to satisfy me that yom- ' intelli- 

 gent ' friends must have had minds which do not 

 belong to the a priori order — i.e. are incapable of 

 perceiving other than the most familiar relations. 

 Such minds may do admirable work in other direc- 

 tions, but not in that of estimating the value of 

 Darwinian speculations. A few years ago they 

 would have tliought the cessation of selection a very 

 unimportant principle, and one which could not 

 possibly sustain any such large question as that of 

 the transmissibiHty of acquired character. And a 



