DARWINISM. 9 



tion of the ape-like form, the result would be intelligible 

 enough. What, then, is there to determine variation in 

 any particular direction., and what limits are there, if 

 any, to the system of interminable change which the 

 principle of variation seems to involve ? 



Of course it is understood that the general mass of 

 characters or qualities belonging to any creature are 

 inherited by one generation from its immediate ancestors 

 and transmitted to its immediate descendants, so that 

 for a long period there would be a large number of 

 individuals in the world united into a group by 

 common characters, which according to their supposed 

 importance we might call specific or generic. But 

 besides this, there is the very curious principle of Re- 

 version to be taken into account, as largely conducing 

 to the comparative permanence of species. In Norway, 

 I believe, when the father's name is Jack, and the 

 son's name is Tom, Tom is called Tom Jackson, and 

 Tom is in the habit of giving his own eldest son the 

 grandfather's name, and then Tom Jackson's son is 

 called Jack Tomson. Now, in the same way, in nature 

 it not unfrequently happens that when a long-nosed 

 man is father of a short-nosed son, the son of the 

 short-nosed man inherits by reversion the more elon- 

 gated feature of his grandsire. Under certain condi- 

 tions, which however greatly limit it, the operation 

 of this principle of Reversion may extend, so far as 

 we know, to any quality whatever after an interval of 

 any number of generations. The tendency, therefore, 

 is to the permanence of species, and yet, as will be 



