An Examination of Weismannism

An Examination of Weismannism

As already stated in the Preface to the second edition of Darwin and after Darwin, Part I, severe and protracted illness has hitherto prevented me from proceeding to the publication of Part II. It is now more than a year since I had to suspend work of every kind, and therefore, although at that time Part II was almost ready for press, I have not yet been able to write its concluding chapters. Shortly before and during this interval Professor Weismann has produced his essays on Amphimixis and The Germ-plasm. These works present extensive additions to, and considerable modifications of, his previous theories as collected together in the English translation, under the title Essays on Heredity, Vol. I. Consequently, it has become necessary for me either to re-write the examination of his system which I had prepared for Part II of my own treatise, or else to leave that examination as it stood, and to add a further chapter dealing with those later developments of his system to which I have just alluded. After due reflection[vi] I have decided upon the latter course, because in this way we are most likely to obtain a clear view of the growth of Weismanns elaborate structure of theoriesa view which it is almost necessary, for the purposes of criticism, that we should obtain. Having decided upon this point, it occurred to me that certain advantages would be gained by removing the whole criticism from the position which it was originally intended to occupy as a section of my forthcoming volume on the Post-Darwinian period. For, in consequence of the criticism having been written at successive intervals during the last six or eight years as Professor Weismanns works successively appeared, it has now swelled to a bulk which would unduly encumber the volume just mentioned. Again, the growth of Professor Weismanns system has of late become so rapid, that if the criticism is to keep pace with it in future, the best plan will doubtless be the one which it is now my intention to adoptviz., to publish the criticism in a separate form, and in comparatively small editions, so that further chapters may be added with as much celerity as Professor Weismann may hereafter produce his successive works. Lastly, where so much elaborate speculation and so many changes of doctrine are concerned, it is inevitable that some misunderstandings on the part of a critic are likely to have arisen; and therefore, should Professor Weismann deem it worth his while to correct any such failings on my part, the plan of publication just alluded to[vii] will furnish me with the best opportunity of dealing with whatever he may have to say. It must be understood, however, that under the term Weismannism I do not include any reference to the important question with which the name of Weismann has been mainly associatedi.e., the inheritance or non-inheritance of acquired characters. This is a question of fact, which stands to be answered by the inductive methods of observation and experiment: not by the deductive methods of general reasoning. Of course Professor Weismann is fully entitled to assume a negative answer as a basis whereon to construct his theory of the continuity of germ-plasm; but no amount of speculation as to what the mechanism of heredity is likely to be if once this assumption is granted, can even so much as tend to prove that the assumption itself is true. Therefore, in this examination of Weismannism I intend to restrict our attention to the elaborate system of theories which Weismann has reared upon his fundamental postulate of the non-inheritance of acquired characters, reserving for my next volume our consideration of this postulate itself. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 49458
Author: Romanes, George John
Release Date: Jul 16, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English