Characters, Hereditary and Acquired. 41 



attention to its existence and importance. On the 

 other hand, it cannot be said that he has succeeded in 

 doing very much towards its solution. It is for these 

 reasons that any attempt at deahng with Weismann's 

 fundamental postulate — i.e. that of the non-inherit- 

 ance of acquired characters — was excluded from my 

 Examination of Weismannism. As there stated, he is 

 justified in assuming, for the purposes of his discussion, 

 a negative answer to the question of such inheritance ; 

 but evidently the question itself ought not to be in- 

 cluded within what we may properly understand by 

 " Weismannism." Weismannism, properly so called, 

 is an elaborate system of theories based on the funda- 

 mental postulate just mentioned — theories having 

 reference to the mechanism of heredity on the one hand, 

 and to the course of organic evolution on the other. 

 Now it was the object of the foregoing Examination to 

 deal with this system of theories per se ; and therefore 

 we have here to take a new point of departure and 

 to consider separately the question of fact as to the 

 inheritance or non-inheritance of acquired characters. 

 At first sight, no doubt, it will appear that in adopting 

 this method I am putting the cart before the horse. 

 For it may well appear that I ought first to have 

 dealt with the validity of Weismann's postulate, and 

 not till then to have considered the system of theories 

 which he has raised upon it. But this criticism is 

 not likely to be urged by any one who is well ac- 

 quainted with the questions at issue. For, in the first 

 place, it is notorious that the question of fact is 

 still open to question; and therefore it ought to be 

 considered separately, or apart from any theories 

 which may have been formed with regard to it. In 



