From Milton Wainwright
The common view that Darwin did not believe that acquired characteristics could be inherited (12 July, p 28) is mistaken. In The Life and Letters of T. H. Huxley, Henry Huxley records Darwin’s fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace writing: “Darwin always believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, such as use and disuse… I also accepted the theory at first… but had to change my mind.” It may yet turn out that Darwin was ahead of his time in accepting an idea which has been the subject of much lampooning by his disciples.
Sheffield, UK
