THE FORMATION OF VARIETIES. 173 



"It is difficult to overrate our ignorance of the use* 

 of various parts of the organization." 



The principal use of the various parts, is to preserve 

 the normal relation, or balance of the whole; and this 

 relation or balance may not be varied, ad lib., by man, 

 without evil effects upon the physiology of the organ- 

 ism. Such evil effects we shall show to be registered, 

 in each individual ; and to be susceptible of being read, 

 with perfect ease, by every fancier, breeder, horticul- 

 turist and agriculturist. 



The principal reason, why proportionate re-develop- 

 ment does not occur under domestication, — why all of 

 the characters- do not, in each or in any individual, re- 

 turn concurrently to the original, perfect type, — why 

 all of the lost characters are not regained, in each in- 

 dividual, — is, not only because man does not desire to 

 develop all of the characters in each individual, but 

 because, also, the different individuals are subjected 

 to different conditions of life, which favor the de- 

 velopment of special characters, in advance of the 

 development of others. Man avails himself of this 

 circumstance, and pushes the development of the first 

 character presenting itself (if it be a desirable charac- 

 ter), to an extreme point. When an individual has one 

 character in the ascendant, man seizes it, and makes it 

 the peculiarity of a given variety, and suppresses the 

 development of all the other characters. Other indi- 

 viduals, with another character in an exceptionally- 

 advanced state of development, are made to constitute 

 another varietal type; and, the further the exclusive 

 development of the distinguishing mark of this type, 



