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Matter
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parents are accounted for, as follows: A certain organ or part of an animal is affected; this modifies the body-cells; the modification of the body-cells causes modification of the germ-cells; the modified germ-cells are transmitted and the offspring gets by inheritance these cells with these modifications; these modified cells develop the self-same modifications in the self-same parts or organs of the offspring. The NeoLamarkians in their advocacy of the theory of the inheritance of acquired characters hold a view essentially similar to that of Darwin viz:--that it is the parental germ plasm affected in a peculiar way that is transmitted and in the offspring produces a modification similar to that in the parent. But one of the many aspects of the difficulty of this theory relates to the development of the modification in the offspring. There is of course the germ-plasm transmitted from the parents to the offspring. But in this mass of germplasm, there is not yet the full-fledged organ to be modified in the given manner. In fact the modified germ-plasm in which the acquired characters of the parental adult are translated with the help of epigenetic factors and which retranslates those characters into the offspring this time without the help of those epigenetic factors is something which is inscrutable.
WEISMAN'S THEORY OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GERMPLASM AND SOMA-PLASM
Another aspect of the difficulty of the Darwinian theory becomes apparent when we consider the views of Weisman. Weisman shows that the germ-plasm is essentially different from the general soma-plasm, --so that when there are modifications in the body-cells due to epigenetic factors, the germplasm remains unaffected and unmodified. It is the parental germ-plasm which by amphimixis forms the basis of the general features of the child's body,---features which are common to the species, and if this parental germ-plasm continues unmodified and incorruptible from individual to individual, it is clear that the acquired characters in a parent cannot be inherited by the offspring.
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