XII

DURATION AND

ORIGINATION OF

RACE AND SPECIES--

IMPORT OF SEXUAL REPRODUCTION


I
Do Varieties wear out, or tend to wear out?

(New York Tribune, and American Journal of Science and the Arts, February,
1875)



This question has been argued from time to time for more than half a
century, and is far from being settled yet. Indeed, it is not to be settled
either way so easily as is sometimes thought. The result of a prolonged and
rather lively discussion of the topic about forty years ago in England, in
which Lindley bore a leading part on the negative side, was, if we rightly
remember, that the nays had the best of the argument. The deniers could
fairly well explain away the facts adduced by the other side, and evade the
force of the reasons then assigned to prove that varieties were bound to die
out in the course of time. But if the case were fully re-argued now, it is
by no means certain that the nays would win it. The most they could expect