Evolution / by Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson.

  • Patrick Geddes
Date:
[1911?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Evolution / by Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    relations, their geographical distribution, geo¬ logical succession, and such other facts, might come to the conclusion that species had not been independently created, but had descended like varieties from other species. Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory unless it could be shown how the innumerable species inhabiting this world have been modified so as to acquire that perfection of structure and co-adaptation which justly excites our admiration.5’ Again, “ It is therefore of the highest importance to gain a clear insight into the means of modification and co¬ adaptation. At the commencement of my observations it seemed to me probable that a careful study of domesticated animals and cultivated plants would offer the best chance of making out this obscure problem. Nor have I been disappointed: in this and in all other perplexing cases I have invariably found that our knowledge, imperfect though it be, of variation under domestication affords the best and safest clue.” It was therefore with variation under domestication that he began his book. Variation under Domestication. — A comparison between the individuals of a cul¬ tivated or domesticated “ variety ” shows a