Abstract
THE appearance of a little shilling book on heredity is almost startling, when we consider the difficulty of the subject and the relative youth of its. exact study. That a book like this should be possible indicates that considerable progress has been made in recent years. Was it not Leibnitz who said, “The more a science advances, the more it becomes concentrated in little books”? But it indicates also a noteworthy skill on the author's part. Without attempting to slur over difficult themes, e.g. Mendelism, as if they were easy, he has given us a clear and interesting exposition, which will be widely appreciated. It is a wonderful multum in parvo, dealing lucidly, for instance, with the contrast between hereditary resemblapce and variation, between the germ-plasm and the body, between germinal variations and somatic modifications, between inherited nature and the results of nurture, between inborn and congenital characters, and so on. Even to have made these distinctions clear, so that they may be understanded of the people, is an achievement. As was natural in a book of this kind, the author takes up an eclectic position, and quotes freely from various writers—from one about ten times. He is inclined to allow that there is a limited trans-mission of “acquirements” or modifications, but the only instance we have found is an inept one—that bacteria may transmit an exaltation of their virulence. He agrees with Dr. Archdall Reid on many points, e.g. that amphimixis never produces more than regressive variations, but does not think that this. author satisfactorily accounts for the origin of spontaneous variations. He has the same complaint to make of Weismann, but in regard to a view which that. progressive biologist no longer holds, as, indeed, the author seems to know (p. 54). We may also note that even in “The Germ-Plasm” Weismann did not teach that “parthenogenetic species cannot vary”; in fact, he made experiments showing reversion in parthenogenetic generations of Cypris. There is a useful chapter on “physical degeneration,” but we do not understand the author when he says that those who believe in progressive degeneration “have it incumbent upon them to demonstrate either the falsity or the suspension of the law of natural selection.” Surely the many “degenerate” animals that we know have not become what they are without the help of selection. Another point that we do not understand is how the fact that “one-half of the nuclear chromatin of each gamete is thrown aside prior to the fusion of the two nuclei,” “obviously corresponds exactly with Galton's assertion that the two parents between them contribute one-half of the total heritage of the offspring.” There is surely a screw loose here. Dr. Saleeby's vivacious style will fascinate some readers and help them over difficult themes, but we wish that he had been sometimes less conversational, as when he speaks of the Bathmic theory of organic evolution as “an amusing piece of nonsense.”
Heredity.
By C. W. Saleeby Pp. 118. (London and Edinburgh: T. C. and E. C. Jack. n.d.) Price 1s. net.
Enjoying our latest content?
Log in or create an account to continue
- Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
- Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
or
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
T., J. Heredity . Nature 73, 171–172 (1905). https://doi.org/10.1038/073171a0
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/073171a0
