ON VABIETIE3, EACKS, ST'B-SPECIES, AM) SPECIES. 69 



we think therefore that many species now considered well esta- 

 blishetl, may possibly have had a common origin, so that could 

 we go back to their first parents we should find theni to be the 

 same male and female. 



But if such a result should some day be arrived at, must we 

 conclude that there are no species, and that it is impossible to 

 refer organized beings to perfectly well defined types? We 

 think not ; and in our opinion he goes nmch too far who supposes 

 that what we now call species are only sub-races, because the true 

 species occurs in the family. What would be the consequence 

 of such a supposition ? The characters of species would be more 

 general than they are now ; one would then probably find that 

 individuals of this s|3ecies, living vinder such circumstances, 

 would have undergone modifications by virtue of which there 

 would be as many different sub-species and races as there are at 

 present genera and sub-genera, and in short that one species, 

 whilst always reproducing the same thing, would give rise to 

 sub-races. We conclude then that, whatever may be said, the 

 progress of the sciences of observation demands all the labour 

 which has been bestowed, that we should persevere in our endea- 

 vours to define species both of plants and animals, and that 

 teachers, so far from discouraging those occupied in such studies, 

 should persuade and excite them to continue therein, and to collect 

 together facts concerning the modification of the characters of 

 the individuals before them, in order that the anatomist, physi- 

 ologist, and philosopher may be provided with materials which 

 may throw light upon the causes which modify organized beings. 

 These materials will always form the basis of science, even if 

 subsequent labours show that species should be represented by 

 our actual families, sub-species and races by the genera and sub- 

 genera of these families, and sub-races by the species of these 

 genera and sub-genera. The notion of species will clearly not 

 exist the less, Avill not be less clearly defined than now ; the 

 niunber of species only will be restricted, and the variations to 

 which the essence of each of them will be subject will extend 

 beyond the limits within which we now restrict them. 



PART II. 



§ I. — INTKODUCTION. 



Having defined the word species as it ought to be defined in 

 the present state of natural science, attention being paid to the 

 correlative terms necessary to the existence of the individuals 

 which it includes, viz., the organization of these individuals and 



