| OCR Text |
Show 338 MONSTERS AND amount to monstrosities, the changes are never out of the species. Several shoots of the pine o~ten come united together, so that two wiB be umted their whole length, and two pairs of these for ~alf the length, and they will curl outwards at the tlps, like the horns of a ram, or the sign ( cr) of the constellation Aries upem the globe. Sometimes the inosculation will extend to the pith of the two portions; and sometimes it will be only external; but, in all cases, the substance is the genuine product of the pine. Cultivated plants are all more or less monsters ; the additional petals in double fiowe~s are the parts of fructification changed from theu proper forms, and their functions are change~ along with them. In some cases, the petals wh1ch are formed out of the parts of fructification, remain of smaller size than the others, as in anemones, and in some Yarieties of dahlia, where there is a row of large petals in the margin, and all those in the centre are small. The anthers of roses not only change ~o petals, but in some instances they change into leaves, or into the sepals of a calyx; and there have been instances in which an anther has changed into an imperfect calyx, and displayed a small badlyformed rose in the centre of the large one. A growth from the stem of a potato will sometimes change to a sort of tuber, even above ground ; and if a plant of that species. has proper ro.om in good soil, it may be made to put out successive crops of tubers from the stem. The parts of animals also sometimes undergo changes. Additional horns appear on ~heep; and callosities, resembling horns, are sometimes found on the human body; colours change ; and even the shape alters, we sometimes cannot even guess why. But in all these cases, the change, however monstrous it is, is never out of the species. The additional horns on sheep are still genuine sheep's horns, 'vhatever may be their position or shape; and the HYBRIDS. 339 horny excrescences on the human body, even though they grow on the face, as they have done in some instances, are just as truly human nails as if they were on the fingers or the toes. In the case of hybrids, too, whether of plants or of animals, and in the latter whether of quadrupeds or birds-we know little or nothing of hybrids among the other tribes, though there may be instances in them-there is a law of nature that maintains the species. The mules, of whatever they are hybrids, will not breed as a race, though they generally can with ehher of the narent stocks, and the result is a partial return to tha( stock; and if the system were continued, the ultimate progeny would be again assimilated or identified with the pure blood. Thus we can, with very little reflection, get hold of the general principles that are to guide us in our observation of animated nature. There is a specific form handed down from race to race ; and the general characters of that form cannot be altered so that one species shall resemble or merge into another. This character is in the embryo, even 1whcn that is too minute for being in any way the subject of observation. That keeps them all true to tl,eir kinds in the general way, so that we never find a cat taking to the water and fishing at the bottom, as an otter does, or a fish coming on land to hunt for worms. As little do we ever find a hawk robbing orchards, or a pigeon killing sparrows for food to its young. But it is the general character only which descends by hereditary succession. When the young leaves the parent, and becomes an independent being, it is controlled by circumstances, and must accommodate itself to them. Thus, in proportion as the treatment varies, the individual character must vary; and that is the reason why cultivated plants and animals are so much more varied, in all their species, than wild ones. The wild ones have only the changes of the |
