286 LESSONS FKOM NATURE. [CHAP. IX. 



more uniformly, they would probably become common to all the indi 

 viduals of the species.&quot; vol. ii. p. 387. 



Mr. Darwin, indeed, seems now to admit the existence of 

 internal, innate powers, for lie goes on to say : 



&quot; We may hope hereafter to understand something about the causes 

 of such occasional modifications, especially through the study of mon 

 strosities In the greater number of cases we can only say 



that the cause of each slight variation and of each monstrosity lies 

 much more in t?&amp;lt;e nature or constitution of the organism, than in the 

 nature of the surrounding conditions ; though new and changed con 

 ditions certainly play an important palt in exciting organic changes of 

 all kinds.&quot; 



Mr. Darwin even admits the existence of different innate 

 laws in different species. He says (vol. ii. p. 177), &quot; That 

 the degree of limitation should differ in different species of 

 the same group will not surprise any one who lias studied 

 the laws of inheritance, for they are so complex that they 

 appear to us in our ignorance to be capricious in their 

 action.&quot; 



He also says, as to the disappearance of juvenile stripes 

 and markings in adult pigs and tapirs: &quot;But whether this 

 change was effected through sexual or natural selection, or 

 was due to the direct action of the conditions of life or some 

 other unknown cause, it is impossible to decide.&quot; 



Also, in a note (vol. i. p. 223), he speaks of &quot; incidental 

 results of certain unknown differences in the constitution of 

 the reproductive system.&quot; 



Thus, then, it is admitted by our author that we may have 

 &quot; abrupt, strongly marked &quot; changes, neither beneficial nor 

 injurious &quot; to the creatures possessing them, produced &quot; by 

 unknown agencies &quot; lying deep in &quot; the nature or constitution 

 of the organism,&quot; and which, if acting uniformly, would 

 &quot;probably&quot; modify similarly &quot;all the individuals of a 

 species.&quot; If this is not an abandonment of &quot; natural se 

 lection,&quot; it would be difficult to find terms more cal 

 culated to express it. But Mr. Darwin s admissions of 

 error do not stop here. In the fifth edition of his Origin 



