206 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



law of likeness is accounted a phenomenon of unusual kind. 

 Even extending to the domain of mind as well as of body, 

 we unconsciously expect the child to exhibit the traits of 

 character and disposition which are visible in its parents, 

 and to grow up " the child of its father and mother," as the 

 expression runs, in every phase of its bodily and mental life. 

 A wider view of the relations and harmonies existing in 

 nature, however, shows us that this direct development of 

 the young into the similitude of its ancestors is by no means 

 of universal occurrence. Many forms attain the resem- 

 blance to their progenitors only after passing through a 

 series of changes or disguises, often of very complicated 

 nature. And a very slight acquaintance with the facts of 

 physiology would serve to show that the law of likeness, like 

 most other laws regulating the world of life, has its grave 

 exceptions, and that it exhibits certain phases of singular 

 interest in what may be termed its abnormal operation. 

 The young of an animal or plant may, and frequently do, 

 exhibit very remarkable variations from the parent in all the 

 characteristics which are associated with the special nature 

 of the being. The circle of repeated and perpetuated like- 

 ness may thus be broken in upon at any point, and the 

 normal law of heredity may be regarded as occasionally 

 superseded in its working by the operation of another law, 

 that of variation and divergence. Forms unlike the parents 

 are thus known to be frequently produced, and these errant 

 members of the family circle may be shown to possess no 

 inconsiderable influence on the nature and constitution of 

 the world of life at large. Family likeness, as every one 

 knows, lies at the root at once of the differences between, 

 and relationships of, living beings. The offspring must 

 resemble their parents and their own kind more closely 

 than they resemble other groups, else our knowledge of the 

 relationship of one form to another must be regarded as 

 possessing no sound basis whatever. But admit that the 

 young may not resemble the parent, and a veritable apple 

 of discord is at once projected into the apparent harmonies 



