6 



ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



mongrels also, and that we see thereby that they are only va- 

 rieties of one kind. Granted ; I entertain no doubt of their 

 having respectively descended from one pair of created indi- 

 viduals ; but how do you prove to me that the cat, lynx, tiger, 

 panther, lion, &c, did not descend from one created pair? I am 

 rather inclined to think that they did (but this is only a surmise), 

 and even the horse and the ass from one created pair ; and I am 

 quite unable to believe that the several sylvian of the wren family, 

 some of which can with difficulty be distinguished except by the 

 proportions of their quills, and which have nevertheless very 

 diverse habits, notes, and nests, were created separately and 

 specially ; and, when I look to the vegetable races, I am still 

 more unwilling to assent to the assertion, that every plant, 

 which this or that botanist has called a distinct species, or even 

 a distinct genus, had a special creation in the period before the 

 sun and moon shone upon this world, when God created vege- 

 tables. Upon what authority is such an assertion made? Upon 

 none but the dictum of those who are pleased to inculcate it. 

 Upon what ground is it made ? Upon none that will bear in- 

 vestigation, — upon a rash assumption that everything cross-bred is 

 sterile, and that if the offspring is sterile the parents are thereby 

 proved to have been descended severally from the Creator. In 

 the first place, the fact is even false as to animals. Buffon records 

 an instance of the fertility of a mule. I have seen that which I am 

 satisfied was a hybrid between a bitch and a fox, which was the 

 father of many puppies. But if the fact were positively true, 

 how is it to be proved that the constitution and frame may not 

 have undergone such changes in the diversification as to prevent 

 intermixture? If I can show that in one genus of plants cross- 

 breeding is not only easy, but more easily obtained than fertility 

 by the plant's own pollen, and that in others, so closely allied to 

 it as to make it a question whether they are not sections of one 

 genus, cross-breeding cannot be effected generally, and in no case 

 easily ; that in some genera of plants many or all the cross-bred 

 varieties are fertile, and in others nearly allied thereto all, or 

 almost all, are sterile ; the assertion that the races of canis or 

 dog must have had one origin because their crossed produce is 

 fertile, and the races of felis, from the cat to the tiger, must have 

 had separate origin because their crossed produce is sterile (sup- 

 posing the fact to be true, which is not ascertained), must fail to 

 the ground. The only thing certain is, that we are ignorant of 

 the origin of races ; that God has revealed nothing to us on the 

 subject ; and that we may amuse ourselves with speculating 

 thereon, but we cannot obtain negative proof, that is, proof that 

 two creatures or vegetables of the same family did not descend 

 from one source. But we can prove the affirmative ; and that is 



