similarly-modified

Updated: August 6, 2026

Must we not feel, with Darwin apparently, that the only intelligible explanation of use-inheritance is the hypothesis of Pangenesis, according to which each modified cell, or physiological unit, throws off similarly-modified gemmules or parts of itself, which ultimately reproduce the change in offspring? If we reject pangenesis, it becomes difficult to see how use-inheritance can be possible.

W. P. (William Platt) Ball - Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited?: An Examination of the View Held by Spencer and Darwin