VARIATIONS, DUE TO REVERSION. 6t 



lost characters," with the variations which he, in 

 his ignorance, attributes to spontaneous variability, 

 would sound the knell of Darwinism ; alone pre- 

 vented him from disclosing the part these " long-lost 

 characters " play, in the grand diapason of Biology. 

 In a future chapter, it will be shown, that each organ- 

 ism is as a sweet bell, jangled and out of tune, if these 

 "long-lost characters" fail to join in that symphony of 

 correlation which, when perfect, alone may make the 

 coordination which is consistent with physiological in- 

 tegrity. 



On page 14, Vol. i, Animals and Plants, &c, he says: 



" By thus adding up variations, he (man) has effected 

 wonderful changes and improvements." 



This sum of variations, or improvements, avails his 

 argument just nothing ; for, he shows, that the only 

 scientific view is, that this sum of improvements 

 effected, is but the sum,_ or part of the sum, of char- 

 acters once lost by the varying species. To show that 

 a species has been divested, by unfavorable conditions, 

 of a number of characters; and then, when -the indi- 

 viduals of that species regain those characters, to pro- 

 ceed to estimate a ratio of indefinitely continued devel- 

 opment, is obviously absurd. 



On page 54, Vol. ii, Animals and Plants, &c, he 

 says, under the heading, " Crossing as a Direct Cause 

 of Reversion ": 



" It has long been notorious, that hybrids and mon- 

 grels often revert to both or to one of their parent 

 forms, after an interval of from two to seven or eight 

 generations, or, according to some authorities, even a 



