Minute Variations 
arisen in a seedling. This is known to be the 
case with the turnspit dog.” But, as we have 
already said, Darwin at no time attached much 
importance to these jumps made by nature as a 
factor in evolution. He pinned his faith to the 
minute, indefinite variations which he believed 
could be piled up, one upon another, so that, 
if allowed sufficient time, either nature or the 
human breeder could, by a continued selection 
of these minute variations, call into being any 
kind of organism. The importance of selection, 
he writes, ‘‘consists in the great effect produced 
by the accumulation in one direction, during 
successive generations, of differences absolutely 
inappreciable by an uneducated eye” (page 36). 
On page 132 he writes: ‘I can see no limit to 
the amount of change, to the beauty and com- 
plexity of the coadaptations between all organic 
beings . . . which may have been effected? in 
the long course of time by nature’s power of 
selection.” He expressly states, on page 149, 
that he sees no reason to limit the process to 
the formation of genera alone. 
Athough the theory of natural selection does 
not attempt to explain the causes of variation, 
1 This short-legged type of dog is sometimes seen among the 
ownerless and unselected pariah dogs of Indian towns ; and a short- 
legged variety of the fowl may occur sporadically in Zanzibar, 
where the long-legged Malay is the prevalent breed. 
2“ Effected” appears in the earlier editions, but in the later 
editions has given place to “affected,” probably a printer’s error. 
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