The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-14

The first question that will occur TO the
reader OF a new treatise on the origin and
nature OF life will. of course. be. What
position does the writer take toward La
msrckism on the one hand and neo- OAR
winism on the other' This preliminary
question must be answered II We are TO
get from the outset the authors point Of
view. For light on the Inquiry we must
refer the reader to the twenty-frst. twenty
second, thirtieth and thiTty-frst chapters.
The merest outline Of what Is set forth
therein can be presented in this notice.
We may. indeed. say AZ once that Prof.
lie Danteo is a neo-Lamarckian. since he
repudiates the Fundamental averment OF
Weismann. that the transmission Of char
acters acquired by an individual during its
lifetime is impossible. After a discussion
20 which. as we have said. our chapters
are allotted the author arrives at the
conclusion that when a character has been
acquired, not by one individual merely
or merely by a dozen individuals succeed
ing one another. but by a race during a
great number Of generations under the
influence Of a continuous factor b. il is
thereafter transmitted along the whole
ntt VI hCbCctts thctC " 10 " VsCt V "
there il develops. 80 much the more as
the factor b persists the longer among
the life conditions OF the species. Even
II Mt the end Of a certain time the factor
h shall disappear from the education ten.
vironment) Of the adult. the character,
having been really and profoundly ac-
quired. will not itself disappear. On the
contrary. II will always manifest itself
In the development OF the embryo under
the influence of conditions different from
those which would make il function in the
adult. But since il is no longer kept up
by functional assimilation. it preserves
at the end OF embryo development merely
the volume which IL had acquired during
this antenatal portion OF life. and even
begins a repression. Only with much
difficulty, however. will il disappear COM
pletely in the descent OF the species, be-
cause. since the conditions OF embryo
development are altogether different from
those OF the functions OF the adult, the
fact that the organ has ceased to function
in the adult will not prevent it from func-
tioning in the embryo.
These considerations have convinced
Prof. L. Dantec that. strictly speaking.
there is never any hereditary transmission
ercept that OF acquired characters. This,
although n whole school Of lists
has tried for a number OF years tc deny
the possibility OF such transmission. The
author OF the book before us points out the
logical consequence OF blind acceptance Of
the fancifnl system Of Weismann, in which
the characters Of an individual, instead Of
being looked upon rs actual elements Of a
state Of equilibrium, are taken to be static
entities, possessed Of an independent ex-
istence. The neo-Darwinisn school has
no new cha m cters ever make their an
pearance tut that there il only a rearrange-
ment and new juStsposition in a col
lection If cha ra cters which have existed
from the dawn OF life. Prof. LIZ Dantec
deems il enough to recall the fancifui de-
ining OF the characters Of individuals for
us to guess what the scientific value of such
q system really is This wilful belief in
static entities, which DO not and cannot
exist, is enough. he thinks. to condemn
beforehand q theory which. moreover,
to pure chsnce.
The neo-Darwinian theory. Of which
Weismann wns the first influential ex-
FOUNDER, is cited here only by wsy OF men,
ton, although IL Is still almost universally
adopted. which close approach to universal
adoption the author of this book would
exp,Nin by the little knowledge OF the exact
sciences generally possessed by profess
sional biologists.