Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/208

196 acquired characters, are no criteria whereby to decide whether this or that additional variation is an acquired variation or not. If we bear these three cardinal truths well in mind during the ensuing discussion we shall find that while they supply means of solving many problems of the highest importance, and explaining many mysteries hitherto held to be inscrutable, they are themselves amply and often beautifully confirmed by the study in its deeper aspects of the Natural History of Man.