138 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT. 



Species ; that is to say, in regard to the new characters 

 evolved by breeding, they are in a state of merely artificial 

 stability ; and, if abandoned to accidental or irregular 

 intermixture with the aboriginal or other races, they 

 gradually revert to their primitive form. But it is ar- 

 bitrary and erroneous to assert that all unconsciously 

 or consciously bred races, without exception, are no new 

 species, and v/ould all relapse if left to a state of nature. 

 Granting that all the races of fowls were left to them- 

 selves, we must certainly admit the possibility that in 

 India some few forms would change back into the Bankiva 

 fowl. It is, however, evident that, in Europe and America, 

 from any semi-feral races of fowls the aboriginal Indian 

 race would never reappear, but at the most some few new 

 wide-spread mongrel forms would arise, remaining con- 

 stant according to geographical districts. No one has 

 yet been able to assert that the wild dogs of the East, 

 entirely released from the control of man, have become 

 wolves or jackals, their presumptive ancestors. They 

 become "jackal-like," by which every one expresses that 

 the dog which became and was bred a domestic animal 

 thousands of years ago, preserves its acquired specific 

 characteristics even under circumstances most favour* 

 able to their destruction. 



This statement, that domestic animals are no new 

 species, is the more unfounded, as of several domestic 

 animals the aboriginal stock is totally unknown ; among 

 these are the sheep and goat, respecting the ancestors 

 of which only vague conjectures can be framed. The 

 most ancient race of sheep known to us, — that with ram- 

 like horns, found among the lake dwellings of Switzer- 

 land, throws no light upon the subject; and empirically 



