Lastly, it is certain that variability may be transmitted through either sexual element, whether or not originally excited in them, for Kolreuter and Gartner (22/53. 'Dritte Fortsetzung' etc. s. 123; 'Bastarderzeugung' s. 249.) found that when two species were crossed, if either one was variable, the offspring were rendered variable.]
SUMMARY.
From the facts given in this chapter, we may conclude that the variability of organic beings under domestication, although so general, is not an inevitable contingent on life, but results from the conditions to which the parents have been exposed. Changes of any kind in the conditions of life, even extremely slight changes, often suffice to cause variability. Excess of nutriment is perhaps the most efficient single exciting cause. Animals and plants continue to be variable for an immense period after their first domestication; but the conditions to which they are exposed never long remain quite constant. In the course of time they can be habituated to certain changes, so as to become less variable; and it is possible that when first domesticated they may have been even more variable than at present. There is good evidence that the power of changed conditions accumulates; so that two, three, or more generations must be exposed to new conditions before any effect is visible. The crossing of distinct forms, which have already become variable, increases in the offspring the tendency to further variability, by the unequal commingling of the characters of the two parents, by the reappearance of long-lost characters, and by the appearance of absolutely new characters. Some variations are induced by the direct action of the surrounding conditions on the whole organisation, or on certain parts alone; other variations appear to be induced indirectly through the reproductive system being affected, as we know is often the case with various beings, which when removed from their natural conditions become sterile. The causes which induce variability act on the mature organism, on the embryo, and, probably, on the sexual elements before impregnation has been effected.
CHAPTER 2.XXIII.
DIRECT AND DEFINITE ACTION OF THE EXTERNAL CONDITIONS OF LIFE.
SLIGHT MODIFICATIONS IN PLANTS FROM THE DEFINITE ACTION OF CHANGED CONDITIONS, IN SIZE, COLOUR, CHEMICAL PROPERTIES, AND IN THE STATE OF THE TISSUES. LOCAL DISEASES. CONSPICUOUS MODIFICATIONS FROM CHANGED CLIMATE OR FOOD, ETC. PLUMAGE OF BIRDS AFFECTED BY PECULIAR NUTRIMENT, AND BY THE INOCULATION OF POISON. LAND-SHELLS. MODIFICATIONS OF ORGANIC BEINGS IN A STATE OF NATURE THROUGH THE DEFINITE ACTION OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS. COMPARISON OF AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN TREES. GALLS. EFFECTS OF PARASITIC FUNGI. CONSIDERATIONS OPPOSED TO THE BELIEF IN THE POTENT INFLUENCE OF CHANGED EXTERNAL CONDITIONS. PARALLEL SERIES OF VARIETIES. AMOUNT OF VARIATION DOES NOT CORRESPOND WITH THE DEGREE OF CHANGE IN THE CONDITIONS. BUD-VARIATION. MONSTROSITIES PRODUCED BY UNNATURAL TREATMENT. SUMMARY.
If we ask ourselves why this or that character has been modified under domestication, we are, in most cases, lost in utter darkness. Many naturalists, especially of the French school, attribute every modification to the "monde ambiant," that is, to changed climate, with all its diversities of heat and cold, dampness and dryness, light and electricity, to the nature of the soil, and to varied kinds and amount of food. By the term definite action, as used in this chapter, I mean an action of such a nature that, when many individuals of the same variety are exposed during several generations to any particular change in their conditions of life, all, or nearly all the individuals, are modified in the same manner. The effects of habit, or of the increased use and disuse of various organs, might have been included under this head; but it will be convenient to discuss this subject in a separate chapter. By the term indefinite action I mean an action which causes one individual to vary in one way and another individual in another way, as we often see with plants and animals after they have been subjected for some generations to changed conditions of life.