But acquired characters were not really transmitted after all. So those who clung to Weismannism argued--an unnecessary task surely if this transmissibility were inconceivable. We cannot discuss the evidence here, and it is unnecessary that we should do so, since it is all considered in the popular books on heredity. There is an apparent consensus of opinion in these books which should not influence the reader unfamiliar with zoological literature, nor obscure the fact that many zoologists and botanists accept the opposite conclusion. The discussion is all very tiresome, but we may glean some results of positive value from it. It is unquestionable that very few conclusive and adequate investigations have been made: one cannot help noticing that the literature contains an amount of controversy out of all proportion to the amount of sound experimental and observational work actually carried out. Most of the experiments deal with the consideration of traumatic lesions or mutilations, and it seems to be proved that such defects are not transmitted, or at least are very rarely transmitted. The tails of kittens have been cut off; the ears of terrier-dogs have been lopped; and the feet and waists of Chinese and European ladies have been compressed, and all throughout very numerous generations, yet these defects are not transmitted from parent to offspring. This kind of evidence forms the bulk of that which orthodox zoological opinion has adduced in favour of the belief in the non-inheritability of acquired characters, but does it all really matter? What might be transmitted is a useful, purposeful modification of morphology, or functioning, or behaviour, induced by the environment throughout a number of generations--an adaptation rather than a harmful lesion. There is little conclusive evidence that such adaptations are inherited, though anyone who carefully studies the evidence in existence will not be likely to say that they are certainly not transmitted. Does, for instance, the blacksmith transmit his muscular shoulders and arms to his sons, or the pianiste her supple wrists and fingers to her daughters? There are no observations and experiments in the literature worthy of the importance attaching to the question at issue.