et Imbecillilate Darwiniana. 77 



cumstances, builds itself up out of surround- 

 ing inorganic and organic material. What 

 a speck is this potentiality, and what gigantic 

 formative power it contains ! It converts into 

 organs the appropriate material supplied to 

 it : it works towards its own specific end. 

 And who knows how far chemical or other 

 changes, by slightly altering some initial 

 principle, giving it a new turn, might not 

 determine its formative energy in quite a 

 new direction. Observe, now, what a power- 

 ful and peculiar influence altered climatic 

 and other conditions have upon wild or even 

 tame animals. See how many refuse to 

 breed at all, and how anomalous and irre- 

 gular becomes the offspring of many that do. 

 Take a long-haired cat to tropical Africa : 

 it loses its hair : the breed changes. Under 

 the necessary evocative conditions, Nature 

 internally does what is wanted to meet the 

 case, and suit the animal to its surroundings. 



