CROSSING AND CLOSE-INTERBREEDING. 227 



studied, or understood, without the other. It is a fact, 

 beyond all question, that Darwin, so far from striving 

 to resolve the physiological phases of his problem, is 

 systematically bent upon rendering them worse con- 

 founded. It is possible, that he is moved to such a 

 course, by an uneasy consciousness that their explana- 

 tion would confound all of his speculations. -Be that 

 as it may, however, there is no doubt, whatever, — for, 

 it is by him explicitly avowed, — that his design, in 

 adducing the facts of physiology, is to show that they 

 cannot be explained, and, then, from the impossibility 

 of accounting for them, to deduce the conclusion, that 

 the insuperable objection to his theory, the sterility of 

 hybrids, is an argument which cannot be relied upon as 

 conclusive, as the whole subject of fertility and sterility 

 is incomprehensible. This flimsy device will be com- 

 pletely unraveled in the succeeding chapters of this 

 work. 



Two Classes of Evil Effects occasioned by Close- 

 Interbreeding: 



There are two classes, of the evil effects, which are 

 occasioned by close-interbreeding. 



The one class, comprises the effects wrought upon 

 a part, or parts, in the offspring, by the mere augmen- 

 tation of the structural defects, in such part or parts, 

 in the parents. 



The influence, however, which the reduction, or 

 suppression of any part, exerts, does not stop with the 

 said reduction or suppression of such characters ; but, 

 entails evil upon the aggregate, — upon the organiza- 

 tion, as a whole, and upon the reproductive elements. 



