198 An Examination of Weismannism. 



or less resemble the preceding sire. Unfortunately, neither 

 Weismann himself nor any of his followers, as far as I know, 

 has hitherto published an opinion on the subject ; but I imagine 

 that his answer would be three-fold. First, he may question 

 the fact. Secondly, even admitting the fact, he may say it 

 is much more easy to explain it by supposing that the germ- 

 plasm of the first sire has in some way or another become 

 partly commingled with that of the immature ova, as well as 

 with that of the mature one which it actually fertilizes ; and, if 

 so, it would naturally assert its influence on the progeny of 

 a subsequent sire. Millions of spermatozoa must have been 

 playing around the ovaries after the first copulation, and only 

 one of them was needed to fertilize the mature ovum. It is not 

 necessary to suppose that some of the others succeeded in 

 penetrating any of the immature ova, while these were still 

 embedded in the substance of their ovaries. It may be that the 

 life of " ids " is not commensurate with that of their containing 

 spermatozoa. After the latter have perished and disintegrated, 

 their ids may escape in thousands of millions, bathing in 

 a dormant state the whole surfaces of both ovaries. And, if so, 

 it is conceivable that when subsequent ova mature — i.e., come 

 to the surface of their ovaries and rupture their follicles — these 

 dormant ids adhere to their porous walls, through which they 

 may pass. This may not seem a very probable explanation ; 

 but, at any rate, it is a less improbable one than that on which 

 the Neo-Lamarckians would found an argument against the 

 continuity of germ-plasm. For, — 



Thirdly, is it not literally inconceivable that this Neo- 

 Lamarckian explanation can be the true one ? Can it be 

 seriously contemplated that there is any such mechanism as the 

 explanation must needs assume ? If it is difficult to accept such 

 a machinery as is supposed by the theory of pangenesis, whereby 

 every cell in the body casts off "gemmules," which are the 

 carriers of heredity from their respective tissues to the germinal 

 elements, what are we to say of such a machinery as the 

 following : — A machinery which distributes through the body of 

 a female gemmules from the disintegrated spermatozoa of her 

 mate ; which distributes them selectively, so that they shall 

 all eventually lodge in those tissue-cells of the female which 



