Note 62 — Chapter V

It is almost needless to say that no fault is to be found with Weismann for having thus reversed his opinion touching one of his fundamental postulates. Consistency is no merit in a man of science; and least of all where matters of such high speculation are concerned. I think, however, that it is open to question whether an author of any kind should suffer an elaborate system of theories to be published and translated, at the very time when he is himself engaged in producing another work showing the untenable character of their basal premises. At any rate, it would have saved his English readers no small trouble and confusion, if Weismann had added notes to the translations of his essays on Polar Bodies, on The Significance of Sexual Reproduction, and on Amphimixis, to the effect that he had abandoned some of their most distinctive features before the translations had gone to press.