42 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



ever of the whole animal kingdom, whether Radiate, Mol- 

 lusk, Articulate, or Vertebrate, before reaching its adult 

 condition and assuming the permanent characters which dis 

 tinguish it from other species, and have never been known to 

 vary, passes in a comparatively short period through an ex 

 traordinary transformation, the successive phases of which 

 differ far more from each other than do the adult species. 

 In other words, the same individual differs more from him 

 self in successive stages of his growth than he does in his 

 adult condition from kindred species of the same genus. 

 The conclusion seems inevitable, that, if the slight differ 

 ences which distinguish species were not inherent, and if 

 the phases through which every individual has to pass were 

 not the appointed means to reach that end, themselves in 

 variable, there would be ever-recurring deviations from the 

 normal types. Every naturalist knows that this is not the 

 case. All the deviations known to us are monstrosities, and 

 the occurrence of these, under disturbing influences, are to 

 my mind only additional evidence of the fixity of species. 

 The extreme deviations obtained in domesticity are secured, 

 as is well known, at the expense of the typical characters, 

 and end usually in the production of sterile individuals. 

 All such facts seem to show that so-called varieties or 

 breeds, far from indicating the beginning of new types, or 

 the .initiating of incipient species, only point. out the range 

 of flexibility in types which in their essence are invariable. 



&quot; In the discussion of the development theory in its pres 

 ent form, a great deal is said of the imperfection of the 

 geological record. But it seems to me that, however frag 

 mentary our knowledge of geology, its incompleteness does 

 not invalidate certain important points in the evidence. It 

 is well known that the crust of our earth is divided into a 



