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The only thing to do is to pluck them out root and branch: they are as a cancer which, if the smallest fibre be left unexcised, will grow again, and kill any system on to which it is allowed to fasten. Mr. Wallace, therefore, may well be excused if he casts longing eyes towards Weismannism. And what was Mr. Darwin's system? Who can make head or tail of the inextricable muddle in which he left it?
* See a paper read by Professor Bourne to the Zoological Section of the British Association, 1910. It must be understood that when I speak of Weismannism I do not refer to this whole theory of heredity, which, he acknowledges, has few supporters. The Lamarckian view is represented in Britain by Sir W. Turner and Professor Darwin.
The former is sometimes called the theological view, because it recognises the presence in organic nature of design, whether it be called creative power, directive force, directivity, or vital principle; the latter view, in which the existence of design is absolutely negatived, is now usually described as Weismannism, from the name of the writer who has been its principal advocate in recent years.
When we see a person "ostrichizing" the evidence which he has to meet, as clearly as I believe Professor Weismann to be doing, we shall in nine cases out of ten be right in supposing that he knows the evidence to be too strong for him. The Deadlock in Darwinism: Part III Now let me return to the recent division of biological opinion into two main streams Lamarckism and Weismannism.
A recognition of the impressive secret of the organism led Gustav Wolff to become a very pronounced critic of Darwinism, especially in the form of Weismannism.
The fact that castration does affect, in many cases very profoundly, somatic characters confined to one sex, proves that Mendelian conceptions, however true up to a certain point, are by no means the whole truth about heredity and development. For it is the essence of Mendelism as of Weismannism that not only sex but all other congenital characters are determined in the fertilised ovum or zygote.
Now let me return to the recent division of biological opinion into two main streams Lamarckism and Weismannism Both Lamarckians and Weismannists, not to mention mankind in general, admit that the better adapted to its surroundings a living form may be, the more likely it is to outbreed its compeers.
Weismannism, therefore, is the inevitable outcome of the straits to which Charles-Darwinians were reduced through the way in which their leader had halted between two opinions. This is why Charles-Darwinians, from Professor Huxley downwards, have kept the difference between Lamarck's opinions and those of Mr. Darwin so much in the background.
The most important and correct part of Eimer's conclusion seems to be the establishment of definite lines of development. He has, in fact, permanently disposed of the Darwinian assumption of universal chaos in evolution, upon which good mother Nature could at will exercise her choice. Fortuitously initiated development is a condition sine qua non of Darwinism and Weismannism.
Weismannism, therefore, is the inevitable outcome of the straits to which Charles-Darwinians were reduced through the way in which their leader had halted between two opinions. This is why Charles-Darwinians, from Professor Huxley downwards, have kept the difference between Lamarck's opinions and those of Mr. Darwin so much in the background.
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