Characters, Hereditary and Acquired. 149 



any positive result to follow from such a line of 

 inquiry. As shown further back in the text, Darwin 

 had carefully considered the case of mutilations, 

 and explained that their non-transmissibility con- 

 stitutes no valid objection to his theory of pangenesis. 

 Furthermore, it may now be added, he expressly 

 alluded in this connexion to the cutting off of tails, 

 as practised by .horse-breeders and dog-fanciers, 

 " through a number of generations, without any 

 inherited effect." He also alluded to the still better 

 evidence which is furnished by the practice of cir- 

 cumcision. Therefore it is difficult to understand 

 the object of Weismann's experiment. Yet, other 

 than the result of this experiment, no new fact 

 bearing on the question at issue has been even so 

 much as alleged. 



