My claim at the outset of this chapter was stronger: that, even if acquired characteristics could be inherited, the Lamarckian theory would still be incapable of explaining adaptive evolution. This claim is so strong that it is intended to apply to all life-forms, everywhere in the universe. It is based upon two lines of reasoning, one concerned with difficulties over the principle of use and disuse, the other with further problems with the inheritance of acquired characteristics. I shall take these in reverse order.
