44 LAW OF VARIATIONS. 



each particular variation. * * * Why because the 

 reproductive system is disturbed, this or that part 

 should vary more or less, we are profoundly ignorant. 

 Nevertheless, we can here and there dimly catch a faint 

 ray of light, and we may feel sure that there must be 

 some cause for each deviation of structure, however 

 slight." 



Not so much even as a guess lies at the foundation 

 of his theory. 



No wonder that he says, respecting his theory (p. 

 199, Origin of Species) : 



" A crowd of difficulties will have occurred to the 

 reader. Some of them are so serious that to this day 

 I can hardly reflect on them without being staggered." 



Page 300, Vol. ii. 



" Throughout this chapter and elsewhere I have 

 spoken of selection as the paramount power, yet its 

 action absolutely depends on what we, in our ignor- 

 ance, call spontaneous or accidental variability." 



After speaking of those authors who attribute varia- 

 tion to what are manifestly but the conditions of varia- 

 tion, such as "an excess of food," "the amount of 

 exercise taken," and "a more genial climate," he says: 



" But we must, I think, take a broader view, and 

 conclude that organic beings, when subjected during 

 several generations to any change whatever in their 

 conditions, tend to vary (sic); the kind of varying 

 which ensues depends in a far higher degree on the 

 nature or constitution of the being than on the nature 

 of the changed conditions." 



Page 302, Vol. ii. 



" We will now consider, as far as we can, the causes 



