CHAPTER II. 
ON VARIATION GENERALLY. 
are constantly brought into contact with the 
phenomenon of variation, since it is precisely 
due to its existence that we are enabled to 
discriminate John Smith from Tom Robinson, 
and to single out, without the shadow of a 
misgiving, all our numberless friends and ac- 
quaintances, male or female, from the myriad 
similar human beings with whom we find them 
associated. 
The saying that “ variety is charming ” is universally 
accepted as a true one, but few consider what the world 
would be without it. Imagine, for one moment, for instance, 
what a lively state of affairs it would cause in society if 
every man or woman exactly resembled every other. In 
Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” we see how complex 
matters became owing to only two couples — these both males 
— ^lacking this essential element of variety, the imbroglio 
of mistakes between masters and meii, and, worse still, be- 
tween husbands and wives, being endless. If, then, this 
uniformity were to be carried a step further, and become 
general, we can easily see that the whole foundation of civili- 
sation would be undermined, and chaos would come again; 
the great question of “ Who’s who ? ” upon the more or less 
easy solubility of which modern life is built, being thereby 
