Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited? / An Examination of the View Held by Spencer and Darwin

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Gutenberg ID

26438

Title

Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited? / An Examination of the View Held by Spencer and Darwin

Language

en

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Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

W. P. Ball challenges the Lamarckian theory of use-inheritance, arguing that acquired traits are not passed to offspring. This 1890 essay critically examines examples cited by Herbert Spencer and Charles Darwin, concluding that natural and artificial selection, rather than the inheritance of habits, explain evolutionary changes. Ball urges thinkers to rely on the Darwinian principle of the survival of the fittest to prevent human degeneracy.

Summary up to 500 words

In his 1890 essay *Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited?*, W. P. Ball rigorously examines the Lamarckian hypothesis that acquired characteristics, such as those resulting from use or disuse, are transmitted to offspring. While Herbert Spencer and Charles Darwin had previously supported this view to varying degrees, Ball argues that these phenomena are better explained by natural selection, sexual selection, or the suspension of selection (panmixia). Ball systematically critiques specific examples cited by his predecessors. Regarding the diminution of jaws in civilized races, he contends that the reduction is attributable to natural selection favoring lighter structures and sexual selection, rather than the inheritance of disuse. Similarly, the tameness of domestic rabbits is not the result of inherited habits but rather the consequence of artificial selection, where humans unconsciously favored the tamest individuals capable of surviving captivity and rearing large litters. Ball demonstrates that the cessation of natural selection pressures in domesticated environments allows for the survival of spontaneous variations that favor tameness, rendering the inheritance of acquired habits unnecessary. The author further addresses physical modifications, such as the thickened soles of infants or the short-sightedness of watchmakers. He argues that these traits arise from selective pressures or constitutional liabilities rather than the direct transmission of individual habits. For instance, the thickened soles of infants are likely a result of natural selection favoring early development or atavism, not the inheritance of pressure effects experienced later in life. Ball emphasizes that relying on the inheritance of beneficial habits creates a dangerous fallacy, suggesting that civilization's improvements are mistakenly viewed as hereditary when they are actually superficial changes in individuals. The work carries significant sociological stakes. Ball warns that if acquired modifications are not inherited, then no innate improvement in the human race can occur without the aid of selection. He asserts that the only reliable means to prevent moral and physical degeneracy is the selection of the fittest. Consequently, the essay serves as a defense of Darwinian theory against Lamarckian interpretations, concluding that while individual modification is possible, it does not automatically transmit to posterity. Ball urges thinkers and legislators to base their systems on the Darwinian law of selection rather than the fallacious belief in the inheritance of use and disuse.

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Categories

• Science
• Biology