534 APPENDIX 



of OPj would in any case regress, say to Op : : and the child of OP 2 to 

 Op 2 . Hence without any additional effect due to blending the child of 

 both parents would tend to be midway between OPj and OP 2 , which 

 is nearer to OP 2 than to OP X : so that the retrogressive parent would be 

 better represented in the blend in any case. Is the prepotency intensified 

 by the blending ? It is clear that we are now on totally different ground, 

 where we no longer depend on our every day experience, but require the 

 guidance of specialists, who have observed the phenomena more closely. 



58. This essay then comes to a natural termination. But if the 

 reasoning is correct, we have been able to show that we can deduce from 

 well known laws, combined with the principle of natural selection. 



1 i ) The value of sex in restricting deviation from type. 



(2) The tendency to run through early development more and more 

 quickly, thus compressing the past history and leaving time for adding 

 to it. 



(3) The cessation of growth, or comparative slowness of growth, on 

 reaching maturity. 



(4) The probable existence of an inherent tendency to retrogression, 

 other than the ancestral. 



It follows then that such facts as (2) and (3), which we can independ- 

 ently verify from wide experience, are independent verifications of the 

 wide working of natural selection. 



