Heredity, Variation and Genizis \g 



tinuous kind, new forms or sports of complete and 

 definite character, arise suddenly and abnormally 

 by a single step, and that it is from such abnormal 

 variations, definite and stable from the outset, 

 owing nothing to natural selection, that species 

 originate. Once started, thus fully equipped, 

 those well suited to their surroundings survive 

 and increase by natural selection. Most of our 

 garden fruits and vegetables, he says, are un- 

 doubtedly so formed ; they are not the products 

 of a long course of selection, they are sudden 

 sports which as a rule are transmitted to following 

 generations. 



Here then is unexpectedly opened a by-way of 

 return to a sort of special creation, to the naive 

 delight of shallow theology ; and the doctrine of 

 Darwin, although not ousted, is dethroned from 

 the commanding position which it occupied in 

 seeming security. Its range of action was appar- 

 ently overrated ; scientific enquiry, as often falls 

 out when it is captivated by the brilliance of 

 a new and fruitful theory, being hypnotized for a 

 time and held in such slavish dependence as 

 entirely to neglect observation of contradictory 

 instances even when they are staring : prone ever 

 to neglect a new theory for years after its first 

 quiet enunciation, and then, this once rescued 

 from oblivion and accepted, for years to neglect 

 everything which agrees not with it. Neverthe- 

 less natural selection still holds its proper ground, 

 for it is thought to preserve the fittest forms once 



