No. 633] INHERITANCE IN THE OSTRICH 303 



ing of the manner in which factorial representation in 

 the germ plasm gains expression in the soma; on the 

 other hand we have some experience, from observation 

 and experiment, of the production of somatic changes in 

 the life-time of the organism, as a result of environmental 

 influences and of stimuli due to the use and disuse of 

 parts. The production of callosities, the variation of 

 muscles and the skeletal changes in correlation there- 

 with, the direct modification of bones, ligaments and 

 mesenteries, are all adaptive changes which may result 

 as responses to the external and internal stimuli to which 

 the organism is subject during its life-time. 8 They reveal 

 the inherent powers of responsive adaptability present 

 in the tissues and organs of the body. They are in truth 

 characters which arise independently of direct represen- 

 tation in the germ plasm, and indicate that the latter is 

 not the fons et origo of all structural changes. The power 

 of the tissues to respond to stimuli is transmissible; ir- 

 ritability, the power of responding to stimuli, is one of 



ology from 1886 to 1888, Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane presents a remarkable 

 series of adaptive changes which take place in the human body as a result 

 of continued occupational activities. ^ They are probably the fullest and most 



work on board ship. 



A second paper, "The Anatomy and Physiology of the Shoemaker," 

 describes the anatomical and osteological changes which had resulted from 



Along with other papers dealing with more or less cognate subjects the 

 two are included in a single volume under the non-suggestive title, "The 

 Operative Treatment of Chronic Intestinal Stasis," J. Nesbet & Co., Lon- 

 don, 3d ed., 1915. 



