10 DARWIN'S THEORY. 



improvement, compared with the state, in which they 

 were, when first placed under cultivation. The phe- 

 nomena, here observed, apparently imply an universal 

 tendency to vary, which ever seems to manifest itself, 

 under certain changes in the circumstances ; that is, 

 that while the offspring of animals and of plants, taken 

 from the state of nature, are, in all their main charac- 

 teristics or features, like their parents, they nevertheless 

 improve, more or less, upon their parents ; and vary 

 or differ in character, to some degree, from each other. 

 These variations, and improvements, are also trans- 

 mitted to the descendants of the varying individuals, 

 which also go on, from generation to generation, super- 

 adding to the measure of variation, first displayed. 

 For, when a modification is acquired by any individ- 

 ual, the law of inheritance transmits the acquired char- 

 acter to the offspring. 



Variation, as Darwin remarks, is everywhere seen, 

 under domestication. Scarcely any species, or indi- 

 vidual of any species, either animal or vegetable, has 

 escaped this tendency. Some species, such as the 

 Pigeon and the Fowl, display more variation and im- 

 provement than others. Some have developed many 

 important organs not present in the same species, 

 under nature. Other species have developed few, or no 

 new features ; yet have improved wonderfully and va- 

 riedly, in the quality and size of the characteristics they 

 possessed when first placed under domestication. The 

 improvements, arising in some species, have been 

 divided or apportioned among different, and widely 

 distinct varieties. In other species, the improvements 



