leg bones of the wild duck and the domestic duck, “the great and
inherited development of the udders in cows and goats,” and the drooping
ears of various domestic animals. Here are other passages taken from the
latest edition of the work.
“I think there can be no doubt that use in our domestic animals has
strengthened and enlarged certain parts, and disuse diminished them;
and that such modifications are inherited” (p. 108). [And on the
following pages he gives five further examples of such effects.]
“Habit in producing constitutional peculiarities and use in
strengthening and disuse in weakening and diminishing organs, appear
in many cases to have been potent in their effects” (p. 131). “When
discussing special cases, Mr. Mivart passes over the effects of the
increased use and disuse of parts, which I have always maintained to
be highly important, and have treated in my 'Variation under
Domestication' at greater length than, as I believe, any other
writer” (p. 176). “Disuse, on the other hand, will account for the
less developed condition of the whole inferior half of the body,
including the lateral fins” (p. 188). “I may give another instance
of a structure which apparently owes its origin exclusively to use
or habit” (p. 188). “It appears probable that disuse has been the
main agent in rendering organs rudimentary” (pp. 400-401). “On the
whole, we may conclude that habit, or use and disuse, have, in some
cases, played a considerable part in the modification of the
constitution and structure; but that the effects have often been
largely combined with, and sometimes overmastered by, the natural
selection of innate variations” (p. 114).
In his subsequent work, _The Variation of Animals and Plants under
Domestication_, where he goes into full detail, Mr. Darwin gives more
numerous illustrations of the inherited effects of use and disuse. The
following are some of the cases, quoted from volume i of the first
edition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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