1892.] What is an “ Acquired Character.” 1009 
WHAT IS AN “ACQUIRED CHARACTER?” 
By C. C. Nurrine! 
During the discussion of an exceedingly interesting paper 
on the “ Heredity of Acquired Characters,” read before the 
Biological Section of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science at its recent meeting, one of the 
members had the temerity to confess that he was not sure that 
he knew the exact nature of an “acquired character ;” and it 
was noticeable that none of the noted biologists present on 
that occasion accepted the implied challenge by an attempt to 
define the expression which constituted the basis of the debate 
in which they were engaged. Perhaps it seemed unnecessary 
to define words that have of late been so prominently and 
persistently before the biological world. Doubtless most of the 
persons present, and honesty demands that I count myself 
among them, felt perfectly competent to give the desired 
definition ; but after a re-survey of the controversy, which has 
of late made such an unusual demand upon printer’s ink, it 
has become evident to me that the meaning of “acquired 
character” is elastic to an amazing degree, capable of 
marvellous contraction or expansion to suit the individual 
needs of any and all controversialists, be they NeoDarwinian 
or NeoLamarckian. 
But the contractibility of the term is the phenomenon most 
apt to excite the admiration of the unbiased observer. 
Weismann himself, the great founder and able exponent of 
NeoDarwinism, has demonstrated this contractibility along 
with his exposition of the continuity of the germ-plasm. 
He says: 
“ If every new character is said to be ‘ acquired,’ the term at 
once loses its scientific value, which lies in the restricted use.” 
——“ Science has always claimed the right of taking certain 
expressions and applying them in a special sense, and I see no 
*State University, Iowa City, Iowa. 
