288 CREATION BY LAW. 



the foliage can bo modified into various forms and 

 modes of growth, the root, flower, and fruit remain- 

 ing little altered ; in the cauliflower and brocoli the 

 flower heads vary ; in the garden pea the pod only 

 changes. We get innumerable forms of fruit in the 

 apple and pear, while the leaves and flowers remain 

 undistinguishable ; the same occurs in the gooseberry 

 and garden currant. Directly however, (in the very 

 same genus) we want the flower to vary in the Ribes 

 sanguineum, it does so, although mere cultivation 

 for hundreds of years has not produced marked dif- 

 ferences in the flowers of Ribes grossularia. When 

 fashion demands any particular change in the form 

 or size, or colour of a flower, sufficient variation 

 always occurs in the right direction, as is shown by 

 our roses, auriculas, and geraniums ; when, as re- 

 cently, ornamental leaves come into fashion sufficient 

 variation is found to meet the demand, and we have 

 zoned pelargoniums, and variegated ivy, and it is 

 discovered that a host of our commonest shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants have taken to vary in this direction 

 just when we want them to do so ! This rapid varia- 

 tion is not confined to old and well-known plants 

 subjected for a long series of generations to culti- 

 vation, but the Sikim Rhododendrons, the Fuchsias, 

 and Calceolarias from the Andes, and the Pelargoniums 

 from the Cape are equally accommodating, and vary 

 just when and where and how we require them. 



Turning to animals we find equally striking exam- 

 ples. If we want any special quality in any animal 



