1012 The American Naturalist. [December, 
A large number of concrete examples of this phenomenon 
can be found in the works of Weismann and his followers. 
A cow which lost its left horn by suppuration afterward 
produced two calves with a rudimentary left horn in each case. 
The loss of the horn would certainly be supposed to be an 
acquired character, but this character was transmitted to two 
calves, and thus becomes blastogenic to suit the argument. 
“The loss of the cow’s horn may have arisen from a con- 
genital malformation,” and is, therefore, not an acquired 
character. How a malformation, due to suppuration, can be 
congenital is a question not at all considered. The needs of 
the NeoDarwinian school demand that this malformation be 
congenital, and therefore a congenital malformation it is. 
The young pointer dog, untrained and without any example 
to imitate, springs forward, barking, at the first report of a 
gun. “This,” say the Lamarckians, “ is surely the inheritance 
of an acquired character;” but, no:—The dog has simply 
“inherited a reflex mechanism, which impels him to start for 
ward on hearing a report,”” instead of running away at full 
yelp as a common cur would do. 
A cat was said to have lost her tail by a cart running over 
it, and her progeny were tailless. This would seem to be a 
clincher, but “they, (the rudimentary tails) might have been 
transmitted from the unknown father.” ° ee 
_A soldier loses his left eye by inflammation fifteen your = 
before marriage, and afterward has two sons with defective 
left eyes. A case of inheritance of an acquired character t 
Not a bit of it. “The soldier did not lose his left eye because 
it was injured, but because it was predisposed to become dis- 
eased from the beginning!” ° “ne 
"A boy’s thumbs are malformed by chilblains, associated 
with some skin disease. Two of his children and two grand- 
children have malformed thumbs on both hands. Here We 
would feel reasonably certain that our search for an acquired : 
SEssays on Heredity. (Weismann) P. 82. 
‘Essays on Heredity, (Weismann) Page 94. 
*Essays on Heredity. (Weismann) Page 439. 
*Essays on Heredity. (Weismann) Page 451. 
