58 



surdity any greater than that, of which Darwin is 

 guilty, when he takes variations which are but the 

 mere regain of what the given species once lost, and 

 concludes, from the amount of such improvements, 

 that such species may develop into another species, 

 higher in the scale of development. 



Again, he says (p. 383, Vol. ii, Animals and Plants, 

 &c.) : 



" Finally, though organs which must be classed as 

 rudimentary, frequently occur in our domesticated ani- 

 mals and cultivated plants, these have generally been 

 formed suddenly, through an arrest of development. 

 They usually differ, in appearance, from the rudiments 

 which so frequently characterize natural species. In 

 the latter, rudimentary organs have been slowly formed 

 through continued disuse, acting, by inheritance, at a 

 corresponding age, aided by the principle of the econ- 

 omy of growth, all under the control of natural selec- 

 tion. With domesticated animals, on the other hand, 

 the principle of economy is far from coming into action, 

 and their organs, although often slightly reduced by 

 disuse, are not thus almost obliterated, with mere rudi- 

 ments left." 



Under the heading, " Rudimentary, Atrophied, and 

 Aborted Organs," he says (p. 533, Origin of Species): 



"Organs, or parts, in this strange condition, bear- 

 ing the stamp of inutility, are extremely common, 

 throughout nature. * * I presume that the 'bas- 

 tard wing,' in birds, may be safely considered as a 

 digit in a rudimentary state; in very many snakes, 

 there are rudiments of the pelvis and hind limbs. 

 Some of the cases of rudimentary organs are very 

 curious ; for instance, the presence of teeth in fcetal 

 whales which, when grown up, have not a tooth in 



