The germ-plasm : a theory of heredity / [A. Weismann] ; translated by W. Newton Parker and Harriet Rönnfeldt.

  • Weismann, August, 1834-1914.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The germ-plasm : a theory of heredity / [A. Weismann] ; translated by W. Newton Parker and Harriet Rönnfeldt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/522 (page XVI)
    xvi PREFACE. for the present be prepared to admit. Nevertheless I am well aware that it is but the beginning of a theory, and for this reason I have presented it in the form of an inquiry rather than of an established system. My plan has been not so much to advance doctrines as to propound questions, and to answer them with a greater or lesser degree of certainty, or in some cases even to leave them to be decided by future researches. I do not regard my theory as a complete and perfect one, but trusi that it is of such a nature as to be capable of improvement and further development. It has been my endeavour to write as simply and intel¬ ligibly as possible ; not as a specialist writing for specialists, but as one who desires to make his case clear to all inter¬ ested in biological problems. For this reason a number of figures have been inserted, which, though perhaps super¬ fluous for specialists, will, I trust, assist all who are less conversant with the subject, such as physiologists, medical men, and indeed all interested in natural science, to a clearer conception of the matters under discussion. As a zoologist, I have naturally, in the first instance, considered the phenomena in their relation to animals, for every one must base his ideas on the facts most familiar to him. I have, however, done my best to lay due weight on the data afforded by the study of plants, and to take into account the views of botanists. It will be seen that the very facts which are furnished by certain hereditary pheno¬ mena in plants afford a strong support to certain fundamental points in my theory, and that even those which are at first sight in apparent contradiction, are in reality in perfect accordance with it. It may perhaps be considered by medical men that I ought to have brought forward more evidence with regard