o the
case described by Professor Hartog. The kind of observation which his
letter suggests is, however, likely to lead to results either for or
against the transmission of acquired characters. An old friend of mine
lost his right arm when a schoolboy, and has ever since written with his
left. He has a large family and grandchildren, but I have not heard of
any of them showing a disposition to left-handedness."

From _Nature_ (March 21, 1889) I take the second instance communicated by
Mr. J. Jenner-Weir, who wrote as follows:--

"Mr. Marcus M. Hartog's letter of March 6th, inserted in last week's
number (p. 462), is a very valuable contribution to the growing evidence
that acquired characters may be inherited. I have long held the view
that such is often the case, and I have myself observed several instances
of the, at least I may say, apparent fact.

"Many years ago there was a very fine male of the _Capra megaceros_ in
the gardens of the Zoological Society. To restrain this animal from
jumping over the fence of the enclosure in which he was confined, a long,
and heavy chain was attached to the collar round his neck. He was
constantly in the habit of taking this chain up by his horns and moving
it from one side to another over his back; in doing this he threw his
head very much back, his horns being placed in a line with the back. The
habit had become quite chronic with him, and was very tiresome to look
at. I was very much astonished to observe that his offspring inherited
the habit, and although it was not necessary to attach a chain to their
necks, I have often seen a young male throwing his horns over his back
and shifting from side to side an imaginary chain. The action was
exactly the same as that of his ancestor. The case of the kid of this
goat appears to me to be parallel to that of child and parent given by
Mr. Hartog. I think at the time I made this observation I informed Mr.
Darwin of the fact by letter, and he did not accuse me of 'flat
Lamarckism.'"

To this letter there was no rejoinder. It may be said, of course, that
the action of the offspring in each of these cases was due to accidental
coincidence only. Anything can be said, but the question turns not on
what an advocate can say, but on what a reasonably intelligent and
disinterested jury will believe; granted they might be mistaken in
accepting the foregoing stories, but the world of science, like that of
commerce, is based on the