Chap. XIV. FIXEDNESS OF CnAKACTEE. 39 



have varied, whilst other parts of the organisation have re- 

 mained unchanged ; and it might be argued that these same 

 characters now vary under domestication, or fail to be in- 

 herited, from their lesser antiquity. But variation in a state 

 of nature seems to stand in some close relation with changed 

 conditions of life, and characters which have already varied 

 under such conditions would be apt to vary under the still 

 greater changes consequent on domestication, independently 

 of their greater or less antiquity. 



Fixedness of character, or the strength of inheritance, has 

 often been judged of by the preponderance of certain charac- 

 ters in the crossed offspring between distinct races ; but 

 prepotency of transmission here comes into play, and this, as 

 we shall immediately see, is a very different consideration 

 from the strength or weal^ness of inheritance.^ It has often 

 been observed that breeds of animals inhabiting wild and 

 mountainous countries cannot be permanently modified by 

 our improved breeds ; and as these latter are of modern 

 origin, it has been thought that the greater antiquity of the 

 wilder breeds has been the cause of their resistance to im- 

 provement by crossing ; but it is more probably due to their 

 structure and constitution being better adapted to the sur- 

 rounding conditions. When plants are first subjected to 

 culture, it has been found that, during several generations, 

 they transmit their characters truly, that is, do not vary, and 

 this has been attributed to ancient characters being strongly 

 inherited : but it may with equal or greater probability be 

 consequent on changed conditions of life requiring a long 

 time for their cumulative action. Notwithstanding these 

 considerations, it would perhaps be rash to deny that charac- 

 ters become more strongly fixed the longer they are trans- 

 mitted ; but I believe that the proposition resolves itself into 

 this, — that characters of all kinds, whether new or old, tend 

 to be inherited, and that those which have already withstood 

 all counteracting influences and been truly transmitted, will, 

 as a general rule, continue to withstand them, and conse- 

 quently be faithfully inherited. 



1 See Touatt on Cattle, pp. 92, 69, p. 325. Also Dr. Lucas, 'L'H^red, 

 78, 88, 163; and Youatt on Sheep, Nat.,' torn. ii. p. 310. 



