TRANSMUTABLE. 231 



form, being represented by the phases of develop- 

 ment in the embryo. 



As to the "accidental" modification of the bird's 

 wing, so as to convert it into a paddle, or a 

 hand, the idea is so utterly preposterous, that 

 one can hardly find patience enough to notice 

 such a thing. What does Mr. Darwin mean by 

 inheritance? Does he mean that a bird, having 

 modified its wing by "exercise" or "disuse," into 

 a hand or a paddle, that this modification would 

 be inherited by an oviparous, or a viviparous 

 progeny? Does he believe that the bird, during 

 the "countless ages" the wings must have occu- 

 pied in being modified, had "accidental variation" 

 fitting in other parts, so as to convert the bird 

 into a mammal? 



But the whole supposition is absurd in the 

 extreme. How can an organ formed for flying, 

 be converted, by "accidental variation," into one 

 adapted for grasping? into an organ so exquisitely 

 formed as the human hand? Or what analogy 

 is there between such a change, and that produced 

 in the wattle of the carrier, or the beak of the 

 tumbler, by the fancier of pigeons? 



In the one case you pamper a bird with food, 

 and keep it in close confinement, until you so 

 affect the nutritive organs of the animal, as to 

 destroy the balance between excess and deficiency 

 of nutrition, and the bird varies either in having 

 too much, or too little horn in its beak; too many 

 or too few feathers in its tail, or if pampered to 

 extreme, perhaps a wattle grows on its beak, just 



