340 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



Darwin himself appears to have held a very similar, if not identi- 

 cal view as to the meaning of sexual reproduction, for he observes : 

 " When species are rendered highly variable by changed conditions 

 of life, the free intercrossing of the var)ing individuals tends to- 

 keep each form fitted for its proper place in nature. "■'*^) 



We may also' notice that long before Darwin wrote these words 

 Lamarck, in favour of whose views on the subject of organic evolu- 

 tion there is now such a strong reaction, had made a closely similar 

 obser\'ation, viz. : " In reproductive unions the crossings between the 

 individuals which have different qualities or forms are necessarily 

 opposed to the continuous propagation of these qualities and these 

 forms. We see that in man, who is exposed to so many diverse cir- 

 cumstances which exert an influence on him, the qualities or the 

 accidental defects which he has been in the way of acquiring, are 

 thus prevented from being preserved and propagated by generation.''!' 



* Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. II., p. 3^5. 

 t Lamarck, His Lil'e and Work, by A. vS. Pack.ird, p. 310. 



