22 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. XXV] 



that It could be directly disproved, but Mr. F. Galton's 

 experiments of transfusing a large quantity of the blood of 

 rabbits into other individuals of quite different breeds, and 

 afterwards finding that the progeny was not in the slightest 

 degree altered, did seem to me to be very nearly a disproof, 

 although Darwin did not accept it as such. But when, at 

 a much later period, Dr. Weismann showed that there is 

 actually no valid evidence for the transmission of such 

 characters, and when he further set forth a mass of evidence 

 in support of his theory of the continuity of the germ-plasm, 

 the " better theory was found, and I finally gave up pan- 

 genesis as untenable. But this new theory really simplifies 

 and strengthens the fundamental doctrine of natural selection. 



It will thus appear that none of my differences of opinion 

 from Darwin imply any real divergence as to the over- 

 whelming importance of the great principle of natural 

 selection, while in several directions I believe that I have 

 extended and strengthened it. The principle of "utility," 

 which is one of its chief foundation-stones, I have always 

 advocated unreservedly ; while in extending this principle 

 to almost every kind and degree of coloration, and in 

 maintaining the power of natural selection to increase the 

 infertility of hybrid unions, I have considerably extended 

 its range. Hence it is that some of my critics declare that 

 I am more Darwinian than Darwin himself, and in this, I 

 admit, they are not far wrong. 



