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Acquired Characters

a term used to designate modifications in the individual achieved during his or her individual life as a consequence of accident, use or disuse, or environmental influence, in distinction from inheritance.

It was formerly believed that acquired characters were transmitted to offspring, but this view is no longer generally entertained by scientists. It is contrary to experience in many well-known instances and is also inconsistent with the physiological facts of inheritance as more recently brought to light. A great deal of misunderstanding, however, arises from a loose use of the term acquired characters. Much that the individual acquires or achieves during life, even though immediately due to what may be called individual effort, use, accident, or environment, is still not separable from inherent tendencies. It is possible that such tendencies would not have appeared in the absence of circumstances favor- AERONAUTICS able to their development, but their reappearance in offspring is nevertheless not a proof of the hereditary transmission of acquired characters. Habits of life may affect the germ cells and so alter their general constitution, but experience has not proved that this results in the transmission to offspring of the particular trait in question. A final misunderstanding arises from the supposition that inheritance implies the exact reproduction of the parent in the offspring. This is contrary to the primary facts of nature. The causes of so-called variation are not yet completely understood, but inherited variation is a natural law. It is not to be confused with acquired characters. All the acquisitions of any generation of men may of course be passed on to succeeding generations by education or other social means, so that sons may often appear to have inherited the acquired characteristics of their fathers. This is the result of social inheritance, not of biological inheritance through the germ cells. It is interesting to note, however, that Luther Burbank, after long and successful experience in producing new plants, has come to the conclusion that acquired characters may be, in some degree, transmitted.