MR. PA TRICK MA TTHE W. 321 



them amy other hind; the weqik&r and lesseiraimstomee- 

 smted hdng prematurely destroyed. This principle is 

 in constant action ; it regulates the colour, the figure, 

 the capacities, and instincts ; those individuals in each 

 species M'tpa® colour and. covering .^xe best suited to 

 concealment or protection from enemies, or defence 

 from inclemencies and vicissit]ides ;0f climate, whose 

 figure is best accommodated to health, strength, defence, 

 and support ; whose capacitiies and instinct^ can ,best , 

 regulate the physical energies to self-advantage accord- 

 ing to circumstances — in such immense waste of primary 

 and youthful life those only come forward to maturity 

 from the strict ordeal by whjich nature tests their 

 adaptation to her standard of perfection and fitness to 

 continue their kind by reproducjljion. ; , 



" From the uiirernitting operation of this law acting 

 in concert with the tendency which the progeny have 

 to take the more par;ticu,lar qualities of the pareijits, 

 together with the connected sexual system in vege- 

 tables and .instinctive limitation to its own kind in 

 animals, a considera,ble uiiiformity of figure, colour, and 

 character is induced constituting species; the breed 

 gradually acquiring the very best possible adaptation 

 of these to its condition which it is susceptible of, and 

 when alteration of circumstance occurs, thus changing 

 in pharacter to suit these, as far as its nature is suscep- 

 tible of change. 



" This circumstanceradaptive law operating upon the 

 slight but continued natural disposition to sport in the . 

 progeny (seedling yariety) does not preclude the supposed , 

 influence which volition or sensation may have had over 



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