in.] ORGANIC STABILITY. 25 



of frequently recurrent forms. The word etymologically 

 compares these forms to the identical medals that may 

 be struck by one or other of a set of dies. The central 

 idea on which the phrase " stable forms " is based is of 

 the same kind, while the phrase further accounts for 

 their origin, vaguely it may be, but still significantly, 

 by showing that though we know little or nothing of 

 details, the result of organic groupings is analogous to 

 much that we notice elsewhere on every side. 



Subordinate positions of Stability. Of course there 

 are different degrees of stability. If the same structural 

 form recurs in successively descending generations, its 

 stability must be great, otherwise it could not have 

 withstood the effects of the admixture of equal doses of 

 alien elements in successive generations. Such a form 

 well deserves to be called typical. A breeder would 

 always be able to establish it. It tends of itself to 

 become a new and stable variety ; therefore all the 

 breeder has to attend to is to give fair play to its 

 tendency, by weeding out from among its offspring such 

 reversions to other forms as may crop up from time to 

 time, and by preserving the breed" from rival admixtures 

 until it has become confirmed, and adapted in every 

 minute particular to its surroundings. 



Personal Forms may be compared to Human Inven- 

 tions, as these also may be divided into types, sub- types, 

 and deviations from them. Every important inven- 

 tion is a new type, and of such a definite kind as to 

 admit of clear verbal description, and so of becoming 



