346 THE SELF-FERTILIZATION OF PLANTS. 



solicitous to know the reason of this widely different 

 action of the same pollen. Darwin, by a dexterous 

 re-statement of the very facts which were to be ex- 

 plained, insidiously conveys the idea that, by so re- 

 stating them, he has achieved a full solution. 



This is on a par with the explanation, he affords, of 

 the reason why animals and plants vary, — Because, 

 they possess an " innate tendency to vary ! " 



But, if he had revealed the true reason of the widely 

 different action of the same pollen ; if he had shown, 

 that the reason sterility existed, was because of the 

 evil due to the disproportionate development of the 

 plants, which evil self-fertilization but augmented; and 

 had shown that the regain of the lost fertility, was due 

 to the different reproductive elements having added 

 together their slightly different coordinating forces, 

 and thus secured the complement necessary for repro- 

 duction ; the result would have been disastrous to his 

 hypothesis of the Origin of Species ; for, it would have 

 proven the normal immutability of each species, and 

 the impossibility of any organism's departure from a 

 certain set of characters, peculiar to its species, save at m 

 the cost of its physiological integrity. 



On page 174, Vol. ii, Animals and Plants, &c, he 

 speaks of " Plants becoming, under culture, self-impo- 

 tent. A cutivated plant, in this state," he continues, 

 " generally remains so during its whole life, and from 

 this fact, we may infer that the state is probably con- 

 genital." The breeder has but to abate the abnormal 

 development of the part which he values, and to 

 develop the parts reduced, or suppressed, to have the 



