138 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT. 



species ; that is to say, in regard to the new characters 

 evolved by breeding, they are in a state of merely artificial 

 stability ; and, if abandoned to accidental or irregular 

 intermixture with the aboriginal or other races, they 

 gradually revert to their primitive form. But it is ar- 

 bitrary and erroneous to assert that all unconsciously 

 or consciously bred races, without exception, are no new 

 species, and would all relapse if left to a state of nature. 

 Granting that all the races of fowls were left to them- 

 selves, we must certainly admit the possibility that in 

 India some few forms would change back into the Bankiva 

 fowl. It is, however, evident that, in Europe and America, 

 from any semi-feral races of fovvds the aboriginal Indian 

 race would never reappear, but at the most some few new 

 wide-spread mongrel forms would arise, remaining con- 

 stant according to geographical districts. No one has 

 yet been able to assert that the wild dogs of the East, 

 entirely released from the control of man, have become 

 v/olves or jackals, their presumptive ancestors. They 

 become "jackal-like," by which every one expresses that 

 the dog which became and was bred a domestic animal 

 thousands of years ago, preserves its acquired specific 

 characteristics even under circumstances most favour- 

 able to their destruction. 



This statement, that domestic animals are no new 

 species, is the more unfounded, as of several domestic 

 animals the aboriginal stock is totally unknov/n ; among 

 these are the sheep and goat, respecting the ancestors 

 of which only vague conjectures can be framed. The 

 most ancient race of sheep known to us, — that with ram- 

 like horns, found among the lake dwellings of Switzer- 

 land, throws no light upon the subject; and empirically 



