NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 433 



the knowledge to master the conception is not very large. These, 

 however, are its high priests, and it would be well if the doctrine 

 always came from them direct. Evolution is a revelation, but it 

 is only made to those who diligently seek it, and the study of 

 this Treatise on Zoology will greatly help those who care to 

 make the quest. 



Use- Inheritance, illustrated by the direction of Hair on the Bodies 

 of Animals. By Walter Kidd, M.D., F.Z.S. Adam & 

 Charles Black. 



The aim of this brochure is clearly stated in the Preface — 

 " The facts dealt with in the following pages are intended to show 

 that the doctrine of the non-inheritance of acquired characters 

 does not always hold good." To prove this negative is some- 

 what difficult ; to even suggest it is to-day unpopular to those 

 who believe en masse, and receive ex cathedra. As the author 

 states — " All the various forms of mutilation of animals and man 

 practised from time immemorial have failed hitherto to furnish 

 cases of such mutilations being transmitted by descent." Mr. 

 Kidd does not, however, suggest that such constant mutilations 

 may have caused congenital variation which has become here- 

 ditary.* 



The author proposes a dynamical explanation for the presence 

 of whorls, featherings, and crests in the hairy coats of mammals, 

 and argues that, as a rule, they are due to the traction of the 

 underlying muscles of the part in question, occurring in regions 

 where opposing traction of underlying muscles is found ; never 

 occurring over the middle of a large muscle, and most uniform 

 and strongly marked in animals with very strong muscles. 



In considering the hair-slope in man, Mr. Kidd makes a 

 distinct challenge to the followers of Weismann, which we only 

 propose to record. It appears that, although the arrangement of 

 hair in man corresponds to a considerable extent with that of the 

 Anthropoid Apes, there are certain peculiarities, or an " excep- 

 tional type," in its distribution which raise the issue whether 

 " the hair-slope in man is a strong argument against the theory 

 of the Simian descent of Man (as far as present evidence goes), 



* Thus ch'cumcision may have had a reflex action on facial characters. 

 Zooi. 4th ser. vol. V., November, 1901. 2 l 



