There is, also,
some probability in the view propounded by Andrew Knight, that this
variability may be partly connected with excess of food. It seems clear
that organic beings must be exposed during several generations to new
conditions to cause any great amount of variation; and that, when the
organisation has once begun to vary, it generally continues varying for
many generations. No case is on record of a variable organism ceasing to
vary under cultivation. Our oldest cultivated plants, such as wheat, still
yield new varieties: our oldest domesticated animals are still capable of
rapid improvement or modification.
As far as I am able to judge, after long attending to the subject, the
conditions of life appear to act in two ways--directly on the whole
organisation or on certain parts alone and in directly by affecting the
reproductive system. With respect to the direct action, we must bear in
mind that in every case, as Professor Weismann has lately insisted, and as
I have incidently shown in my work on "Variation under Domestication,"
there are two factors: namely, the nature of the organism and the nature
of the conditions. The former seems to be much the more important; for
nearly similar variations sometimes arise under, as far as we can judge,
dissimilar conditions; and, on the other hand, dissimilar variations arise
under conditions which appear to be nearly uniform.
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