298 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



very hairy then become glabrous, or almost so-; many 

 of those which were creeping and trailing, then be- 

 come erect ; others lose their spines or their prickles ; 

 others ^till, from the woody and perennial condition 

 which their stem possesses in a warm climate, pass, 

 in our climate, into an herbaceous condition, and 

 among these several are nothing more than annual 

 plants ; finally, the dimensions of their parts them- 

 selves undergo very considerable changes. These 

 effects of changes of circumstances are so well known 

 that botanists prefer not to describe garden plants, at 

 least only those which have been newly cultivated. 



" Is not cultivated wheat {Triticum sativum) only 

 a plant broiight T5'y man into the condition in which 

 we actually see it ? Who can tell me in what coun- 

 try such a plant lives in a state of nature — that is to 

 say, without being there the result of its culture in 

 some neighboring region ? 



" Where occur in nature our cabbage, lettuce, etc., 

 in the condition in which we see them in our kitchen- 

 gardens ? Is it not the same- as regards a number of 

 animals which domestication has changed or con- 

 siderably modified.'' 



" What very different races among our fowls and 

 domestic pigeons, which we have obtained by raising 

 them in different circumstances and in different coun- 

 tries, and how vainly do we now endeavor to re- 

 discover them in nature ! 



" Those which are the least changed, without doubt 

 by a more recent process of domestication, and be- 

 cause they do not live in a climate which is foreign to 

 them, do not the less possess, in the condition of 

 some of their parts, great differences produced by the 

 habits which we have made them contract. Thus our 

 ducks and our domestic geese trace back their type 

 to the wild ducks and geese ; but ours have lost the 

 power of rising into the high regions of the air, and 

 of flying over extensive regions ; finally, a decided 



