Preface. ix 



cousin, Mr. Francis Galton, published a " Theory of 

 Heredity," which, as we shall see in the course of 

 the following pages, presented as distinctly as could 

 possibly be presented the question of the transmission 

 of acquired characters, and answered it in almost 

 exactly the same manner as Weismann did about ten 

 years later. Lastly, as Weismann has himself been 

 careful to point out, he was likewise anticipated in this 

 matter by jager (1878), and Nussbaum and Raubcr 

 (1880). 



For these reasons, then, I exclude this question 

 from the following examination of what I think we 

 ought to understand as distinctively " Weismannism." 



G. J. R. 



Christ Church, Oxford, 

 July, 189;,. 



