WHAT WE MIGHT EXPECT. 177 



" It would appear that any change in the habits of 

 life, whatever their habits may be, if great enough, 

 tends to affect in an inexplicable manner the powers 

 of reproduction." 



And again on the next page : — 



11 Finally, we must conclude, limited though the 

 conclusion is, that changed conditions of life have an 

 especial power of acting injuriously on the reproduc- 

 tive system. The whole case is quite peculiar, for 

 these organs, though not diseased, are thus rendered 

 incapable of performing their proper functions, or per- 

 form them imperfectly." 



One is inclined to doubt whether the blame may not 

 rest with the inability on the part of the creature re- 

 produced to recognise the new surroundings, and hence 

 with its failing to know itself. And this seems to be 

 in some measure supported — but not in such a manner 

 as I can hold to be quite satisfactory — by the con- 

 tinuation of the passage in the "Origin of Species," from 

 which I have just been quoting — for Mr. Darwin goes 

 on to say : — 



"Hybrids, however, are differently circumstanced 

 before and after birth. When born, and living in a 

 country where their parents live, they are generally 

 placed under suitable conditions of life. But a hybrid 

 partakes of only half of the nature and condition of 

 its mother ; it may therefore before birth, as long as it 

 is nourished within its mother's womb, or within the 

 egg or seed produced by its mother, be exposed to con- 

 ditions in some degree unsuitable, and consequently 

 be liable to perish at an early period. . . ." After which, 



