IRAN SMUT ABLE. 27 



the question at all, inasmuch as they are gen- 

 erally the result of crossing. 



The passage about habit as affecting variation 

 is very brief, and might be passed over, were 

 it not for an extraordinary Lamarckian doctrine 

 which it contains. "Not a single domestic 

 animal can be named which has not in some 

 country drooping ears; and the view suggested 

 by some authors, that the drooping is due to 

 disuse of the muscles of the ear, from the animals 

 not being much alarmed by danger, seems probable." 

 Now, of all animals in the world, I should think 

 our domestic ox, horse, ass, or mule, are, on the 

 whole the least alarmed by danger. Why have 

 they not drooping ears? Or if Mr. D. considers 

 the motion which the ears of these animals pos- 

 sess, and which is useful for many purposes, as 

 drooping, then the most timid of our wild quad- 

 rupeds, the hare, must be said to have a drooping 

 ear also! 



The next cause of variation treated of by Mr. 

 Darwin is correlation of growth, instancing the 

 following examples: 1. Breeders believe that 

 long limbs are almost always accompanied by 

 an elongated head. 2. Cats with blue eyes are 

 invariably deaf. 3. White sheep and pigs are 

 differently affected from coloured individuals by 

 certain vegetable poisons. 4. Hairless dogs 

 have imperfect teeth. 5. Long-haired and coarse- 

 haired animals are apt to have, as is asserted, 

 long or many horns. 6. Pigeons with feathered 

 feet have skin between the toes. 7. Pigeons 



