Minute Variations 



arisen in a seedling. This is known to be the 

 case with the turnspit dog." x But, as we have 

 already said, Darwin at no time attached much 

 importance to these jumps made by nature as a 

 factor in evolution. He pinned his faith to the 

 minute, indefinite variations which he believed 

 could be piled up, one upon another, so that, 

 if allowed sufficient time, either nature or the 

 human breeder could, by a continued selection 

 of these minute variations, call into being any 

 kind of organism. The importance of selection, 

 he writes, " consists in the great effect produced 

 by the accumulation in one direction, during 

 successive generations, of differences absolutely 

 inappreciable by an uneducated eye " (page 36). 

 On page 132 he writes : " I can see no limit to 

 the amount of change, to the beauty and com- 

 plexity of the coadaptations between all organic 

 beings . . . which may have been effected 2 in 

 the long course of time by nature's power of 

 selection." He expressly states, on page 149, 

 that he sees no reason to limit the process to 

 the formation of genera alone. 



Athough the theory of natural selection does 

 not attempt to explain the causes of variation, 



1 This short-legged type of dog is sometimes seen among the 

 ownerless and unselected pariah dogs of Indian towns ; and a short- 

 legged variety of the fowl may occur sporadically in Zanzibar, 

 where the long-legged Malay is the prevalent breed. 



2 " Effected " appears in the earlier editions, but in the later 

 editions has given place to " affected," probably a printer's error. 



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