276 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



Indeed, all four writers appear to have been in great 

 measure led to their conclusions by this very study. 

 " At the commencement of my investigations," writes 

 Mr. Darwin, " it seemed to me probable that a careful 

 study of domesticated animals and of cultivated plants 

 would offer the best chance of making out this obscure 

 problem. Nor have I been disappointed ; in this and 

 in all other perplexing cases, I have invariably found 

 that our knowledge, imperfect though it be, of variation 

 under domestication, afforded the best and safest clue. 

 I may venture to express my conviction of the high 

 value of such studies, though they have been very 

 commonly neglected by naturalists." * 



In justice to the three writers whom I have named, it 

 should be borne in mind that they also ventured to 

 express their conviction of the high value of these 

 studies. Buffon, indeed, as we have seen, gives animals 

 under domestication the foremost place in his work. 

 He does not treat of wild animals till he has said all 

 he has to say upon our most important domesticated 

 breeds, on whose descent from one or two wild stocks 

 he is never weary of insisting. It was doubtless 

 because of the opportunities they afforded him for 

 demonstrating the plasticity of living organism that the 

 most important position in his work was assigned to 

 them. 



Lamarck professes himself unable to make up his 

 mind about extinct species ; how far, that is to say, whole 

 breeds must be considered as having died out, or how 

 far the difference between so many now living and 



* ' Origin of Species,' p. 3. 



