Abstract
As one who has been reading the discussion in your pages on the meaning of the term “acquired characters,” I may perhaps be permitted to direct attention to the history of the term. It was first used with reference not to species but to individuals. Every character of an individual is either derived from the fecundated ovum or acquired during life. This was obvious; and the question arose: Could acquired characters be transmitted? As long as the term is applied to an individual, it has that kind of precision which is desirable in all scientific terminology, namely, that it perfectly explains itself.
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CLELAND, J. “Acquired Characters”. Nature 51, 294 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/051294a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051294a0
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