OiV VAIIIETIKS, KACES, SUB-SPECIES, AND SPECIES. C3 



to give one by developing the definition of species acconiiug to 

 the method in which we examined tlie same question in tlie Jour- 

 nal des Savanti, (December, 1840, pp. 715 — 717), and by pay- 

 ing attention to the beautiful pathological anatomical researclies 

 of M. Serres. 



§ II. DEFINITIOKS OP SPECIES, SUB-SPECIES, RACE, AND 



SIMPLE VAKIETY. 



In a species we regard two tlungs : — 



1. Tlie ivhole of the mutual relations of the different organs 

 composing an i?idividual, and the comparison of these relations 



n the individuals representing the species, in order to establish 

 the resemblance of these individuals; 



2. The ivhole of the relations of these individuals with the 

 exterior world in which they live, in order to appreciate the in- 

 fluence which they receive from it. 



The exterior world includes light, heat, electricity, atmos- 

 phere, water, soil, and aliments, with all the modifications winch 

 eacli of these agents or matters is susceptible of presenting in 

 its manner of acting or of being. 



First thing. 



Nothing is more simple than the fundamental notion of species 

 in organised beings for a learned and even unlearneil man, as 

 soon as the term is understood to include an indefinite number 

 of individuals resembling each other, more than they resemble 

 any thing else ; and, as it is seen that as individuals which re- 

 semble each other most proceed from parents which resemble 

 them, so a species includes all the individuals sprung from the 

 same beifig, or from the same two beings, according as the 

 sexes are united or separated. 



This notion of species is perfectly conformable to all that we 

 can observe, when, starting from a late generation of individuals, 

 we go back into the past as far as possible to their ancestors ; it 

 is more especially when we compare the animals and plants of 

 our own day with those of which we find remains or figures in 

 ancient Egypt, that the preceding observation acquires visible 

 importance. 



On the other hand, if individuals, belonging to two distinct 

 species, can give birth to a living being, then called a hybrid, 

 this resembles its parents ; it will differ less from them in propor- 

 tion as they resembled each other : if again two hybrids born of 

 the same two species can give birth to other individuals, these 

 will give the same result as the individuals of one and the same 



