‘In the theory of selection the engine-driver is represented by utility, for with utility rests the decision as to what particular variational track shall be travelled.’
‘It is conceded even by my opponents that the reason why one egg produces a chicken and another a duck is not to be sought in external conditions, but lies in a difference of the germinal substance.’
In the early days of evolutionary theory, there were debates over whether acquired characteristics could be inherited. August Weismann was one of the first biologists to reject this notion in its entirety through his theory of germ plasm. The effect his theory had on evolutionary biology is significant to this day and contributed to the rejection of Lamarckism.
August Weismann was a German evolutionary biologist and one of the most notable evolutionary theorists of the 19th century.