RABBITS" LEGS. 71 



as the leg-bones have not diminished in relative 

 weight, 1 they must clearly have grown thicker 

 or denser. ^_If_disuse has shortened them, as 

 Darwin supposes, why has it also thickened them ?> 

 The ears and the tail have been lengthened in 

 spite of disuse. Why then may not the ungainly 

 hind-legs have been shortened by human prefer- 

 ence independently of the inherited effects of 

 disuse ? By relying on apparently favourable 

 instances and neglecting the others it would be 

 easy to arrive at all manner of unsound conclusions. 

 We might thus become convinced that vessels 

 tend to sail northwards, or that a pendulum 

 oscillates more often in one direction than in 

 the other. It must not be forgotten that it 

 would be easy to cite an enormous number of 

 cases which are in direct conflict with the 

 supposed law of use-inheritance. 



1 Variation of Animals and Plants iinder Domestication, i. 130, 

 135 ; ii. 288. 



