66 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



whom a cell, in union with an ovule, will produce a 

 female, and she, when mature, will have large mammary 

 glands, yielding an abundant supply of milk, and even 

 milk of a particular quality ? Nevertheless, the real sub- 

 ject of surprise is, as Sir H. Holland has well remarked, 

 not that a character should be inherited, but that any 

 should ever fail to be inherited. 



LAWS OF INHERITANCE THAT ARE FAIRLY WELL ESTAB- 

 LISHED. 



Animals and Though much remains obscure with respect 

 Plants, vol. to inheritance, we may look at the following 

 11, page 61. lawg ag j^y we n established : Firstly, a tend- 

 ency in every character, new and old, to be transmitted 

 by seminal and bud generation, though often counteracted 

 by various known and unknown causes. Secondly, re- 

 version or atavism, which depends on transmission and 

 development being distinct powers : it acts in various 

 degrees and manners through both seminal and bud gener- 

 ation. Thirdly, prepotency of transmission, which may be 

 confined to one sex, or be common to both sexes. Fourth- 

 ly, transmission, as limited by sex, generally to the same 

 sex in which the inherited character first appeared ; and 

 this in many, probably most cases, depends on the new 

 character having first appeared at a rather late period of 

 life. Fifthly, inheritance at corresponding periods of 

 life, with some tendency to the earlier development of the 

 inherited character. In these laws of inheritance, as dis- 

 played under domestication, we see an ample provision for 

 the production, through variability and natural selection, 

 of new specific forms. 



