20V HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 



ferential cause of a character is a germinal 

 one the character is, by definition, inherited; 

 on the other hand, whenever this differentia] 

 cause is environmental the character is not 

 inherited. While it is true that inheritance is 

 most clearly recognized in those characters in 

 which offspring resemble their parents, even 

 characters in which they differ from their 

 parents may be inherited, as is plainly seen 

 when, in any character, a child resembles a 

 grandparent or a more distant ancestor more 

 than either parent. Sometimes actually new 

 characters arise in descendants which were 

 not present in ascendants, but which are there- 

 after inherited. Accordingly inherited char- 

 acters may be classified as resemblances and 

 differences, though both are determined by 

 germinal organization, or heredity. There is 

 therefore no fundamental difference between 

 inherited similarities and dissimilarities. Her- 

 edity and variation are not opposing nor con- 

 trasting tendencies which make offspring like 

 their parents in one case and unlike them in 

 another; really inherited characters may be 

 like or unlike those of the parents. 



