138 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT. 



species; that is to say, in regard to the new characters 

 evolved by breeding, they are in a state of merely artificial 

 stability; and, if abandoned to accidental or irregular in- 

 termixture with the aboriginal or other races, they gradu- 

 ally revert to their primitive form. But it is arbitrary and 

 erroneous to assert that all unconsciously or consciously 

 bred races, without exception, are no new species, and 

 would all relapse if left to a state of nature. 



Granting that all the races of fowls were left to them- 

 selves, we must certainly admit the possibility that in 

 India some few forms would change back into the Ban- 

 kiva fowl. It is, however, evident that, in Europe and 

 America, from any semi-feral races of fowls the aborig- 

 inal Indian race would never reappear, but at the most 

 some few new wide-spread mongrel forms would arise, 

 remaining constant according to geographical districts. 

 No one has yet been able to assert that the wild dogs of 

 the East, entirely released from the control of man, have 

 become wolves or jackals, their presumptive ancestors. 

 They become " jackal-like," by which every one expresses 

 that the dog which became and was bred a domestic ani- 

 mal thousands of years ago, preserves its acquired spe- 

 cific characteristics even under circumstances most fa- 

 vourable to their destruction. 



This statement, that domestic animals are no new 

 species, is the more unfounded, as of several domestic 

 animals the aboriginal stock is totally unknown; among 

 these are the sheep and goat, respecting the ancestors 

 of which only vague conjectures can be framed. The 

 most ancient race of sheep known to us, — ^that with. ram- 

 like horns, found among the lake dwellings of Switzer- 

 land, throws no light upon the subject; and empirically 



