232 The Science of Life. 



his crystals, by Galton with his finger-prints, by Geddes 

 with his flowering plant, by the palaeontologists (Cope, 

 Hyatt, &c.) with their shells and teeth, and so on. 



But, apart from the question of definiteness or indefi- 

 niteness, the general view is that of a continuous series 

 of minimal variations, from which Darwinians believe 

 that natural selection has brought about the observable 

 discontinuity of species. 



Now one of the results of Bateson's work is to create 

 a presumption in favour of a belief in discontinuity of 

 variation. "The discontinuity of which species is an 

 expression has its origin, not in the environment, nor 

 in any phenomenon of adaptation, but in the intrinsic 

 nature of organisms themselves, manifested in the ori- 

 ginal discontinuity of variation." "The existence of 

 new forms, having from their first beginning more or 

 less of the kind of perfection that we associate with 

 normality, is a fact that disposes, once and for all, of 

 the attempt to explain all perfection and definiteness 

 of form as the work of selection." It should here be 

 noted that Mr. Galton also has repeatedly expressed 

 his belief in the occurrence of what he calls "transili- 

 ent" variations, and has adduced some evidence in 

 support of his position. 



Mr. Bateson's main induction is that variation is fre- 

 quently discontinuous and large in amount, and his 

 suggestion, like that of Geoffrey St. Hilaire, is that the 

 variations which have been important in the origin of 

 new species may have been discontinuous in their nature. 

 Thus he does not believe that natural selection has 

 played such an important role as the Darwinians sup- 

 pose, and require to suppose. In short, discontinuity 

 of species results from the discontinuity of variation, 

 and does not primarily depend upon selection. 



Furthermore, his induction discloses a greater defi- 

 niteness of variation than is suggested by the words 

 " fortuitous", " indefinite", " in every part of the organ- 

 ism " used by the Darwinians to describe the variations 

 which they assume. Mr. Bateson suggests that this 

 definiteness is an expression of the physical limitations 

 put upon variation by the conditions of organic stability. 



