le 





s 



\ ^ 



i 



^'^ produced 



•yj Peache, „„^ 

 ^ ^'^^s is not alh) 



> "uit one half 

 half or three 



may arise Imt 



Lnimal, we mjc 



the appearance 



I 



7 »/|t;/ 



mg breed; aod J^ 

 ithoritiesasadi^ 



-luldered 



•ly indep 



ing in ^^^ ":* 



It 



be tf"= ' 



ier ^'''' 



,tiflt'»"' 



i 



Z^is BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



599 



we have no evidence of the origin of wild species in 



But this is not a case in which negative 



We have never witnessed 



this way. 



evidence proves anything. 



the origin of a wild species by any process whatever ; 

 and if a species were to come suddenly into being in 

 the wild state, as the Ancon sheep did under domesti- 

 cation, how could you ascertain the fact ? If the first 

 of a newly-begotten species were found, the fact of its 

 discovery would tell nothing about its origin. Natu- 

 ralists would register it as a very rare species, having 

 been only once met with, but they would have no 

 ntcrvals,whata}i means of knowing whether it were the first or the last 



of its race.' 



r 



How is it possible^ therefore, to gauge the amount of 

 this kind of change which takes place amongst higher 

 organisms, whereby new species may more or less 



iged entirely off abruptly appear upon the scene r 



increased Hotlef 



Mr 



himself says : — ^ With 



no surprise at the appearance of any m-odification in any 

 organic being/ Again, it must be almost certain that 

 in such cases we have to do with changes in molecular 



constitution, similar in kind to those which amongst 



simpler organisms sufficed to produce many of the 

 startling metamorphoses that have been recorded in 

 this work. 



We have endeavoured briefly to embody our own 



views concerning 



the causes which determine and 



