XI PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 399 



from the primitive stock that it produces flowers 

 of a different colour or make, or some deviation 

 in one way or another. This is what is called the 

 " sporting " of plants. 



In animals the phenomena of non-sexual pro- 

 pagation are so obscure, that at present we cannot 

 be said to know much about them ; but if we turn to 

 that mode of perpetuation which results from the 

 sexual process, then we find variation a perfectly 

 constant occurrence, to a certain extent ; and, in- 

 deed, I think that a certain amount of variation 

 from the primitive stock is the necessary result of 

 the method of sexual propagation itself; for, inas- 

 much as the thing propagated proceeds from two 

 organisms of different sexes and different makes 

 and temperaments, and as the offspring is to be 

 either of one sex or the other, it is quite clear that 

 it cannot be an exact diagonal of the two, or it 

 would be of no sex at all ; it cannot be an exact 

 intermediate form between that of each of its 

 parents it must deviate to one side or the other. 

 You do not find that the male follows the precise 

 type of the male parent, nor does the female al- 

 ways inherit the precise characteristics of the 

 mother, there is always a proportion of the female 

 character in the male offspring, and of the male 

 character in the female offspring. That must be quite 

 plain to all of you who have looked at all attentively 

 on your own children or those of your neighbours ; 

 you will have noticed how very often it may hap- 



