It is an old and almost universal belief, founded on a considerable
body of evidence, which I have elsewhere given, that slight changes in the
conditions of life are beneficial to all living things. We see this acted
on by farmers and gardeners in their frequent exchanges of seed, tubers,
etc., from one soil or climate to another, and back again. During the
convalescence of animals, great benefit is derived from almost any change
in their habits of life. Again, both with plants and animals, there is the
clearest evidence that a cross between individuals of the same species,
which differ to a certain extent, gives vigour and fertility to the
offspring; and that close interbreeding continued during several
generations between the nearest relations, if these be kept under the same
conditions of life, almost always leads to decreased size, weakness, or
sterility.
Hence it seems that, on the one hand, slight changes in the conditions of
life benefit all organic beings, and on the other hand, that slight
crosses, that is, crosses between the males and females of the same
species, which have been subjected to slightly different conditions, or
which have slightly varied, give vigour and fertility to the offspring.
But, as we have seen, organic beings long habituated to certain uniform
conditions under a state of nature, when subjected, as under confinement,
to a considerable change in their conditions, very frequently are rendered
more or less sterile; and we know that a cross between two forms that have
become widely or specifically different, produce hybrids which are almost
always in some degree sterile.
Pages:
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479