Are the effects of use and disuse inherited? : an examination of the view held by Spencer and Darwin / William Paul Ball.

  • Ball, W. P. (William Platt)
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Are the effects of use and disuse inherited? : an examination of the view held by Spencer and Darwin / William Paul Ball. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    115/178 (page 99)
    WEAKNESS OF USE-INHERITANCE. 99 even have offered its most strenuous opposition, why should it not equally be able to develop used organs or repress disused organs or faculties without the assistance of a relatively weak ally ? Selection evolved the remarkable protective coverings of the armadillo, turtle, crocodile, por¬ cupine, hedgehog, &c. ; it formed alike the rose and its thorn, the nut and its shell ; it developed the peacock's tail and the deer's antlers, the protective mimicry of various insects and butterflies, and the wonderful instincts of the white ants ; it gave the serpent its deadly poison and the violet its grateful odour ; it painted the gorgeous plumage of the Impeyan pheasant and the beautiful colours and decora¬ tions of countless birds and insects and flowers. These, and a thousand other achievements, it has evidently accomplished without the help of use-inheritance. Why should it be thought in¬ capable of reducing a pigeon's wing or enlarging H 2