But how could such a case, if it were really established, be capable of proving the supposed form of hereditary transmission, any more than von Baer’s case could prove the theory of the efficacy of ‘maternal impressions’?
I am of opinion that the extraordinary rarity of such cases strongly enforces the fact that we have to do with an accidental and not a causal coincidence. If scars could be really transmitted, we should expect very frequently to find birth-marks which correspond to scars upon the face of the father,—viz. in almost all cases in which the son had inherited the type of face possessed by the father. If this were so we should have to be seriously concerned about the beauty of the next generation in Germany, as so many of our undergraduates follow the fashion of decorating their faces with as many of these ‘honourable scars’ as possible.
I have spoken of ‘maternal impressions’ because I wished to show that, until quite recently, distinguished and acute scientific men have adhered to an idea, and believed that they possessed the proof of an idea, which has now been completely and for ever abandoned by science. But in addition to this, there is a very close connexion between the theory of the efficacy of maternal impressions and that of the transmission of acquired characters, and sometimes they are even confounded together.
Last year a popular scientific journal quoted the following case as a proof of the transmission of mutilations. I do not, however, wish to imply that the editor must be held responsible for the errors of a correspondent. ‘In November, 1864, a pregnant merino sheep broke its right fore-leg, about two inches above the knee-joint; the limb was put in splints and healed a long time before the following March, when the animal produced young. The lamb possessed a ring of black wool from two to three inches in breadth round the place at which the mother’s leg had been broken, and upon the same leg.’ Now if we even admitted that a ring of black wool could be looked upon as a character which corresponds to the fracture of the mother’s leg, the case could not possibly be interpreted as the transmission of a mutilation, but as an instance of the efficacy of maternal impressions; for the ewe was already pregnant when she fractured her leg. The present state of biological science teaches us that, with the fusion of egg and sperm-cell, potential heredity is determined[[307]]. Such fusion determines the future fate of the egg-cell and the individual with all its various tendencies.
Such tales, when quoted as ‘remarkable facts which prove the transmission of mutilations,’ thoroughly deserve the contempt with which they have been received by Kant and His. When the above-mentioned instance was told me, I replied, ‘It is a pity that the black wool was not arranged in the form of the inscription “To the memory of the fractured leg of my dear mother.”’
The tales of the efficacy of ‘maternal impressions’ and of the transmission of mutilations are closely connected, and break down before the present state of biological science. No one can be prevented from believing such things, but they have no right to be looked upon as scientific facts or even as scientific questions. The first was abandoned in the middle of the present century, and the second may be given up now; when once discarded we need not fear that it will ever again be resuscitated.
It is hardly necessary to say that the question as to the transmission of acquired characters is not completely decided by the unconditional rejection of the transmission of mutilations. Although I am of opinion that such transmission does not take place, and that we can explain the phenomena presented by the transformation of species without this supposition, I am far from believing that the question is settled, simply because the transmission of mutilations may be dismissed into the domain of fable. But at all events we have gained this much,—that the only facts which appear to directly prove a transmission of acquired characters have been refuted, and that the only firm foundation on which this hypothesis has been hitherto based has been destroyed. We shall not be obliged, in future, to trouble about every single so-called proof of the transmission of mutilations, and investigation may be concentrated upon the domain in which lies the true decision as to the Lamarckian principle, it may be concerned with the explanation of the observed phenomena of transformation.
If, as I believe, these phenomena can be explained without the Lamarckian principle, we have no right to assume a form of transmission of which we cannot prove the existence. Only if it could be shown that we cannot now or ever dispense with the principle, should we be justified in accepting it. I do not think that I can represent the state of the subject better than by again referring to the metaphor of the ship. We see it moving along with all sails set, we can discern the presence of neither paddles nor screw, and as far as we can judge there is no funnel, nor any other sign of an engine. In such a case we shall not be justified in concluding that an engine is present and has some share in the movement of the vessel, unless the movement is of such a kind that it is impossible to explain it as due to the unaided action of the wind, the current, and the rudder. Only if the phenomena presented by the progress of organic evolution are proved to be inexplicable without the hypothesis of the transmission of acquired characters, shall we be justified in retaining such an hypothesis.