Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/100



examples similar to those already given, supported by similar arguments, similarly to be rebutted, are found in the writings of numerous supporters of the theory that acquired variations are transmissible. However, it is perhaps not quite fair to make selections in so wide a field, where good examples and strong arguments may be ignored, while bad examples and weak arguments are made the objects of attack. But Mr. Herbert Spencer is a foeman worthy the steel of any antagonist. His philosophy is largely founded on the assumption that acquired traits are transmissible; and he has lately published a pamphlet on The Inadequacy of Natural Selection. This pamphlet may fairly be criticized.

At the beginning Mr. Spencer, quoting Weber's researches, points out that tactual discriminativeness varies greatly in different parts of the human body; the tip of the tongue being able to distinguish the points of a compass when only one-twenty-fourth of an inch apart, the tip of the forefinger when one-twelfth of an inch apart, the breast when one inch and a half apart, the middle of the back only when at least two inches and a half apart, and so on. He proceeds to argue very convincingly, that these differences in discriminativeness