2016年10月

In his classical work on Heredity, Professor J. Arthur Thomson exhausts the evidence on Lamarckism available then (1908) in a manner worthy of the summing-up of an English judge. This is presented to the jury of the biological world and they are still considering it reenex facial . Their verdict and his sentence are not yet delivered, and it may be they will still be long delayed. One might almost use the words of Professor Bateson, previously quoted, “on our present knowledge the matter is talked out.”

I will make one prophecy in this volume and predict that the fourth edition of this work in 1930 will contain the verdict of the jury and sentence of the distinguished judge to the effect that in the case Lamarck v. Weismann the plaintiff has won. As in the Great War the Old Contemptibles held their line with the utmost difficulty against the disciplined hosts of the greatest army ever known till then, and yet the latter found their First Battle of the Marne, so perchance it may be in the present struggle.

I introduce this chapter with an important passage from the above work on the Logical position of the Argument reenex cps , in which the two possible methods of establishing the affirmative position of Lamarck are given; these are, first, actual experimental proof of transmission, and, second, a collec-tion of facts which cannot be interpreted without the hypothesis of modifica-tion inheritance. The words are:28 “The neo-Lamarckians have to show that the phenomena they adduce as illustrations of modifica-tion-inheritance cannot be interpreted as the results of selection operating on germinal variations. In order to do this to the satisfac-tion of the other side, the neo-Lamarckians must prove that the characters in question are outside the scope of natural selection, that they are non-utilitarian and not correlated with any useful characters—a manifestly difficult task. The neo-Darwinians reducing acne scarring , on the other hand, have to prove that the phenomena in question cannot be the results of modifica-tion-inheritance. And this is in most cases impossible.”29

I have placed this passage in italics because of its importance from the point of view of the two problems which I am presenting and would remark here that if only all the writers had used Professor Thomson’s term “modifications” instead of “characters” in the statement of this doctrine much confusion and evasion of plain facts would have been avoided, and yet such workers as the Mendelians, if deprived of their clear-cut term “characters” would have been less able to carry on their studies. To this point of terminology I refer below.30

Ruthlessly the travelers’ kits were torn open, and it was amazing, when Mountain Jim got through, what a huge pile of things that he declared unnecessary were heaped upon the depot platform. As for poor Hardware’s “dingbats,” a new kind of compass and a hunting knife that met with Jim’s approval, alone remained Comfort Zone.

“All this stuff can stay here till you get ready to come back,” said Jim; “the station agent will look after it and see that it is put in the freight shed.”

But it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Out of the rejected “Dingbats” a fine hunting suit, axe, knife and compass were found for Jimmie, who, indeed, stood sadly in need of them. When the boy had retired to the station agent’s room and dressed himself in his new garments, the change in him was so remarkable, when he reappeared, as to be nothing less than striking. In the place of the ragged looking Bowery boy, they saw a well set-up lad in natty[50] hunting outfit. A trifle emaciated he was, to be sure, but “We’ll soon fill him out with hard work and good grub leadership skills,” declared Mountain Jim, who had been told the boy’s story, and who had warmly praised his heroism in rescuing Persimmons.

The latter had also changed his wet garments and was in his usual bubbling spirits when they were ready, in Ralph’s phrase, to “hit the trail.” This was not till nearly noon, however, for the rejection of the superfluous “Dingbats,” of which even Ralph and the professor were found to have a few, had occupied much time. Then, after hearty adieus to the station agent, who had incidentally been the recipient of a generous gratuity from the professor, they mounted their ponies and, with Mountain Jim in the lead, started on their long journey into the wilds. Jimmy, whose circus experience had taught him how to ride, was mounted on one of the pack[51] animals, for, such had been Mountain Jim’s ruthless rejection of “Dingbats,” only a tithe of the expected “pack” remained.

Up the trail they mounted at an easy pace under the big pines that shook out honey-sweet odors as the little cavalcade passed beneath them. At the summit of the rocky cliff that towered above the depot , the trail plunged abruptly into a dense, black tunnel of tamarack, pine and Douglas firs.

As the horses’ hoofs rang clear on the rocky trail and echoed among the columnular trunks that shot up on every side like the pillars of some vast cathedral roof, Mountain Jim broke into dolorous song:

“Hokey pokey winky wang;

Linkum, lankum muscodang;

The Injuns swore that th-e-y would h-a-n-g

Them that couldn’t keep w-a-r-m!”

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