Variation 

 Variety 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



728 



proves that variation is the rule instead of 

 the exception, and that it occurs, more or 

 less, in almost every direction. This is 

 shown by the fact that different species of 

 plants and animals have required different 

 kinds of modification to adapt them to our 

 use, and we have never failed to meet with 

 variation in that particular direction, so as 

 to enable us to accumulate it and so to pro- 

 duce ultimately a large amount of change 

 in the required direction. WALLACE Dar- 

 winism, ch. 4, p. 61. (Hum.) 



3608. VARIETIES MUST PRECEDE 

 SELECTION Natural Selection Not a Cause 

 Darwin's Admission. To me it seems 

 that Professor Huxley and his followers in 

 this line of argument have entirely over- 

 looked the consideration, that before natural 

 selection among varietal forms could come 

 into operation, there must have been varie- 

 ties to select from that for the " fittest " 

 to have survived, they must have come to 

 possess the structure that made them the 

 fittest. It was very early pointed out that 

 natural selection only expresses a general 

 fact, and can in no sense be accounted a 

 vera causa; and this, in his later years, Mr. 

 Darwin showed himself quite willing to ad- 

 mit. In what I believe to be his last public 

 utterance on the subject, he spoke of the 

 causes of variation as at present the great- 

 est problem of biological science; and the 

 greater our success in the investigation of 

 it, the more surely I feel convinced shall 

 we recognize the evidences of an origina- 

 ting design. CARPENTER Nature and Man, 

 lect. 15, p. 436. (A., 1889.) 



3609. VARIETIES OF DOGS Not 



Found in Wild State. The numerous races 

 of dogs which we have produced by domes- 

 ticity are nowhere to be found in a wild 

 state. In Nature we should seek in vain 

 for mastiffs, harriers, spaniels, greyhounds, 

 and other races, between which the differ- 

 ences are sometimes so great that they 

 would be readily admitted as specific be- 

 tween wild animals ; " yet all these have 

 sprung originally from a single race, at first 

 approaching very near to a wolf, if, indeed, 

 the wolf be not the true type which at some 

 period or other was domesticated by man." 

 LYELL Principles of Geology, bk. iii, ch. 

 33, p. 570. (A., 1854.) 



30 1O. VARIETIES SCORNED BY 

 THE OLDER NATURALISTS Now Sought 

 and Cherished. By the older naturalists, 

 indeed, varieties especially if numerous, 

 small, and of frequent occurrence were 

 looked upon as an unmitigated nuisance, be- 

 cause they rendered it almost impossible to 

 give precise definitions of species, then con- 

 sidered the chief end of systematic natural 

 history. Hence it was the custom to de- 

 scribe what was supposed to be the " typical 

 form " of species, and most collectors were 

 satisfied if they possessed this typical form 

 in their cabinets. Now, however, a collec- 



tion is valued in proportion as it contains 

 illustrative specimens of all the varieties 

 that occur in each species, and in some 

 cases these have been carefully described, 

 so that we possess a considerable mass of 

 information on the subject. WALLACE Dar- 

 winism, ch. 3, p. 28. (Hum.) 



3611. VARIETY IN THE UNIVERSE 



Aggregations of Stars Different Magni- 

 tudes Intermingled The Milky Way. Here, 

 then, is fresh evidence of the wonderful con- 

 stitution of the Milky Way. We see that 

 this complicated aggregation of star-streams 

 for such is the true description of the 

 galaxy consists in the main of a multitude 

 of relatively minute stars, amidst which 

 many stars, so large as to be visible to the 

 naked eye, are scattered, while also stars 

 of intermediate orders are gathered with 

 great richness in the same region of space. 

 It follows that when Sir W. Herschel was 

 endeavoring by means of his powerful tele- 

 scopes to resolve the cloudy light of the Milky 

 Way into separate stars he was not really 

 penetrating, as he supposed, to the remotest 

 limits of our stellar system, and bringing 

 into view stars which were at a relatively 

 enormous distance, but in many cases at 

 least was simply scrutinizing more and 

 more closely certain definite aggregations of 

 stars, of many orders of real magnitude, all 

 intermixed together in the same region of 

 space. . . . Our stellar universe, in fact, 

 no longer presents the uniform aspect which 

 it had assumed as interpreted by Sir W. 

 Herschel, but shows varieties of structure 

 and of aggregation corresponding with, but 

 far surpassing in degree, those which we 

 recognize in the solar system. PROCTOR 

 Expanse of Heaven, p. 273. (L. G. & Co., 

 1897.) 



3612. Creation Not Held 



to the Single Model of Our Sun and Solar 

 System Pairs and Clusters of Suns of 

 Varying Color and Brightness. The most 

 beautiful contrasts of coloring are not pre- 

 sented by the systems in rapid motion, but 

 by the systems in slow motion, and even in 

 those which have remained motionless since 

 their discovery. This curious fact does not 

 prevent the planets which gravitate round 

 these latter suns from being subject to the 

 most singular alternations of illumination, 

 of seasons, and of years. Our white and 

 solitary sun, our solar system formed with 

 a single focus round which revolve obedient 

 worlds, following regular orbits, does not 

 constitute the type and the model of univer- 

 sal creation. The multiple suns which we 

 study here sometimes unite their light, some- 

 times oppose each other, sometimes alternate 

 successively in the same sky; suns of dis- 

 similar volumes and masses, acting often in 

 contrary directions and distorting the singu- 

 lar orbits of the unknown worlds which 

 gravitate in their power. No spectacle is 

 more magnificent than the telescopic contem- 

 plation of these strange suns. When in the 



