Volume 2

Darwin, and after Darwin : an exposition of the Darwinian theory and a discussion of post-Darwinian questions / by George John Romanes.

  • Romanes George John, 1848-1894.
Date:
1892-1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Darwin, and after Darwin : an exposition of the Darwinian theory and a discussion of post-Darwinian questions / by George John Romanes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    less and walks more than the wild duck, and its limb bones have become diminished and increased in a corresponding- manner in comparison with those of the wild duck. A horse is trained to certain paces, and the colt inherits similar consensual movements. The domesticated rabbit becomes tame from close confinement; the dog, intelligent from associating with man; the retriever is taught to fetch and carry; and these mental endowments and bodily powers are all inherited. Nothing in the whole circuit of physiology is more wonderful. How can the use or disuse of a particular limb or of the brain affect a small aggregate of reproductive cells, seated in a distant part of the body, in such a manner that the being developed from these cells inherits the characters of either one or both parents ? ... In the chapters devoted to inheritance, it was shown that a multitude of newly acquired characters, whether injurious or beneficial, whether of the lowest or highest vital importance, are often faithfully transmitted V When discussing special cases, Mr. Mivart passes over the effects of the increased use and disuse of parts, which I have always maintained to be highly important, and have treated in my 'Variation under Domestication' at greater length than, as I believe, any other writer2. So much for the matured opinion of Darwin touching the validity of the theory of use-inheritance. Turning now to his opinion on the question whether or not there are yet any further factors concerned in the process of organic evolution, I think it will be sufficient to quote a single passage from the Origin of Species. The first paragraph of the Conclusion is devoted to a rteume of his views upon this matter, and con- sists of the following most emphatic words. I have now recapitulated the facts and considerations which have thoroughly convinced me that species have been modified, durin- a long course of descent. This has been effected chiefly through the natural selection of numerous successive, slight, i Variation fee. ii. p. 367- 2 Origin of Specks, p. 176.