92 
THE TUEORY OF HEREDITY. 
Apr., 1890 . 
Several theories may be tenable :—First, that we have 
small colonies of refugees from floras and faunas now extinct 
or modified in their original abode. Second, that arrivals at 
an island have undergone modification to suit their new 
surroundings on arrival there. Third, that both these causes 
might have operated together. 
Probably the last is the truest, but much may be learned 
if care is taken to ascertain where the nearest relations to the 
existing forms may be found. 
This is as far as my ignorance will allow me to go. I can 
only indicate one other subject which plunges me yet deeper 
into speculation. 
Why are these oceanic forms so weak ? Why do they not 
hold their own against the invaders ? Why must the 
Hawaiians fall a prey to leprosy ? Why must the Tasma¬ 
nians and Maories dwindle ? The answer appears to be that 
the continental forms are strong because they have had 
to struggle against adversity. The toughest weed in England 
is the plantain (Plantago major), and the plantain is tough 
because it has learned to endure trampling. A plant of the 
same genus in the Hawaiian Islands has a stem some inches 
high—a fatal error which our plaintains have learned to 
avoid, This is an intelligible instance, but others are less 
so. It seems as if the oceanic species had grown up in 
security and weakness—if I may use a strange term, psychic 
weakness—weakness of that soul which governs the lower 
functions of growth and nutrition, and develops in animals 
into desire and will. 
That many of the islanders in New Zealand and Hawaii 
were amenable to witchcraft, and died under the spells of 
their prophets, is a scientific fact, based on sound evidence. 
That a weak-willed race, as this hypothesis suggests, should 
fall beneath a stronger one is not much to be wondered at; 
and perhaps in lesser degree this may hold good in lower 
orders of nature. The study of such a contest may enable 
us to form correct views of the nature of forces ever present 
indeed, but for the most part rendered imperceptible because 
usually in equilibrium. 
DR. COLLIER’S OBJECTIONS TO WEISMANN’S 
THEORY OF HEREDITY. 
It certainly would seem a serious objection to any scien¬ 
tific theory that the views held by the bulk of the medical 
profession were opposed to it. But “ views” may be resolved 
