The Inheritance of Acquired Characters 59 
ory. Under the title of ‘Die Mneme,’’ Semon has analyzed 
and classified the different forms of inheritance of former ex- 
periences of the individual which are assumed to become in 
time the herditary capital of the race. Rignano has developed 
the idea of the influence of the germ-cells on the soma, and 
vice versa, from a different standpoint, viz. that the germ- 
cells influence the soma during development and in turn are at 
times influenced by the soma. ‘These speculations are based on 
the assumption that acquired characters are inherited. Since 
we are concerned here only with the experimental evidence in 
favor of or opposed to this assumption, it would carry us too 
far to attempt to deal critically with these elaborations, that 
assume at the starting point that such characters are inherited.’ 
Telegony 
We may next examine the evidence that has been supposed 
by certain writers, in the main ‘‘practical”’ breeders, to prove 
that maternal impressions of various kinds can be transmitted 
to the young in utero. The crudest examples are those in 
which it is related how the pregnant mother, being impressed 
by some unusual or revolting sight, has transmitted to her 
infant a corresponding structural deformity. Somewhat less 
credulous perhaps are those breeders and “fanciers” who are 
firmly convinced that if a purely bred animal — the horse and: 
the dog are the stock examples — has first been paired with a 
mongrel animal, the subsequent offspring to a purely bred 
father will show evidences of the first birth, 7.e. be impure as 
to their breed. 
The credulity of men who have not been trained as to the 
value of evidence is a matter of everyday observation, and it is 
not going too far to say that most opinions or statements of the 
“practical” breeder must be put to a rigorous scientific test 
before they can be trusted. This has proven to be the case 
with telegony. 
* For a criticism of Semon’s argument, see Weismann’s recent (1906) review. 
