VARIATION 37 



The most invariable thing in nature is variation. 

 This fact is at once the hope and the despair of the 

 breeder who seeks to hold fast to whatever he has 

 found that is good and at the same time tries to 

 find something better. When the similarities and 

 dissimilarities between succeeding generations are 

 clear, then heredity can be explained. The entire 

 subject of variation is intimately and inevitably 

 bound up with any consideration of genetics. 



2. THE UNIVERSALITY OF VARIATION 



Much of the variation in nature is patent to the 

 most casual observer, but it requires a trained eye to 

 see the universal extent of many minor differences. 

 A flock of sheep may all look alike to a passing stran- 

 ger, but not to the man who tends them. A dozen 

 blue violet plants from different localities might 

 easily be identified by the amateur botanist as be- 

 longing to the same species when, to a specialist 

 on the genus Viola, unmistakable differences would 

 doubtless be clearly apparent. 



The fact that every attempt at an intimate ac- 

 quaintance with any group of organisms whatsoever 

 invariably reveals previously unrecognized varia- 

 tions, indicates that variability is much more wide- 

 spread in nature than is commonly believed. 



The key to Japanese art, as pointed out by Dr. 

 Nitobe, consists in being natural and in faithfully 

 copying nature. It is for this reason that the Jap- 

 anese artist makes each object that he produces 



