9HMKJM - The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 31
variations which he prizes when, he plants the seed of
a favorite fruit, preserves a favorite domestic animal,
drowns the nglier kittens of a litter, and allows only
the handsomest or the best mousers to propagate. Still
more, by methodical selection, in recent times almost
marvelous results have been produced in new breeds
of cattle, sheep, and poultry, and new varieties of fruit
of greater and greater size or excellence.
It is said that all domestic varieties, if left to run
wild, would revert to their aboriginal stocks. Proba-
bly they would wherever various races of one species
were left to commingle. At least the abnormal or
exaggerated characteristics induced by high feeding, or
high cultivation and prolonged close breeding, would
promptly disappear; and the surviving stock would
soon blend into a homogeneous result (in a way presently
explained), which would naturally be taken for
the original form; but we could seldom know if it
were so. It is by no means certain that the result
would be the same if the races ran wild each in a sepa-
rate region. Dr. Hooker doubts if there is a true re-
version in the case of plants. Mr. Darwin's observations
rather favor it in the animal kingdom. With
mingled races reversion seems well made out in the
case of pigeons. The common opinion upon this subject
therefore probably has some foundation. But
even if we regard varieties as oscillations around a
from the
primitive centre or type, still it appears
readiness with which such varieties originate that a
certain amount of disturbance would carry them beyond
the influence of the primordial attraction, where
they may become new centres of variation.