ON VARIATION 



by splitting in two; and those two each becoming 

 two, and so on endlessly. 



Observe that, with only a single line of 

 parentage from which to draw tendencies, the 

 individualities to be found in this, the lowest form 

 of life we know, are molded wholly by the differ- 

 ence in the saltiness of the water, or the variation 

 in its temperature, or those other limited changes 

 within a short-lived environment. 



And then consider the geranium, and the 

 Chinese arum, and the orchid, and the corn — with 

 a thousand added complications in their lives 

 brought about by a single dominant purpose — a 

 thousand self-imposed difficulties and obstacles 

 which would be needless except for that guiding 

 desire to give the offspring a better chance than 

 the parent had! 



What a price to pay for variation ! What 

 ingenuity and effort each new combination of 

 heredities has cost! How many must have been 

 the plants which advertised for insects that did 

 not come! How many, finding themselves in an 

 unequal struggle, have perished in the attempt! 

 ***** 



Truly, if the cost of things may be taken 

 as a measure of their value, how much must this 

 dearly bought variation be worth in the Scheme 

 of Things ! 



[93] 



