REVERSION, NOT A LAW, SUI GENERIS. 127 



is an identical, normal coordination, however derived, 

 whether by descent, or by independent evolution. 

 Organisms, to be of the same species, need not, 

 necessarily, to be descended from a common pro- 

 genitor; all that is required to class them, within 

 the same species, is to ascertain if their normal co- 

 ordinations are isochronous. If they have the same 

 number of characters, and the same ratio of develop- 

 ment of those characters, when they are free from 

 physiological defects, they belong to the same species. 

 The test by which to determine whether they are 

 free from physiological defect, and of full integrity, 

 is to be found under our chapters, upon Crossing 

 and Close-interbreeding. Near similarities, and such 

 arrangement, group resembling group, may imply, and 

 doubtless do imply, that different species were evolved 

 from a similar matrix, and under similar conditions. 



The variations under domestication, are the same 

 with the repair of a lost edge in a crystal, — simply, a 

 regain of lost integrity. With an organic species, how- 

 ever, the individuals composing it are descended, one 

 from another; while, even the individuals, of what, in 

 crystals, is a species, by analogy, are evolved from in- 

 dependent centres. 



He says (p. 486, Origin of Species): 



" From the first dawn of life, all organic beings are 

 found to resemble each other in descending degrees; 

 so that they can be classed in groups under groups." 



So, crystals are likewise "found to resemble each 

 other in descending degrees, so that they can be 

 classed in groups under groups;" yet, they were not 



