THEORY OF EVOLUTION 59 



opment the use of the term "individuality", 

 while giving the appearance of profundity, in 

 reality often serves merely to cover ignorance 

 and to make a mystery out of a mechanism. 



THE CHARACTERS or WILD ANIMALS AND 

 PLANTS FOLLOW THE SAME LAWS OF IN- 

 HERITANCE AS DO THE CHARACTERS or 

 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 

 Darwin based many of his conclusions con- 

 cerning variation and heredity on the evidence 

 derived from the garden and from the stock 

 farm. Here he was handicapped to some ex- 

 tent, for he had at times to rely on informa- 

 tion much of which was uncritical, and some of 

 which was worthless. 



Today we are at least better informed on 

 two important points; one concerning the 

 kinds of variations that furnish to the cultiva- 

 tor the materials for his selection; the other 

 concerning the modes of inheritance of these 

 variations. We know now that new charac- 

 ters are continually appearing in domesti- 

 cated as well as in wild animals and plants, 

 that these characters are often sharply marked 



