“In many cases there is reason to believe that the lessened use of
various organs has affected the corresponding parts in the
offspring. But there is no good evidence that this ever follows in
the course of a single generation.... Our domestic fowls, ducks, and
geese have almost lost, not only in the individual but in the race,
their power of flight; for we do not see a chicken, when frightened,
take flight like a young pheasant.... With domestic pigeons, the
length of the sternum, the prominence of its crest, the length of
the scapulæ and furcula, the length of the wings as measured from
tip to tip of the radius, are all reduced relatively to the same
parts in the wild pigeon.” [After detailing kindred diminutions in
fowls and ducks, Mr. Darwin adds] “The decreased weight and size of
the bones, in the foregoing cases, is probably the indirect result
of the reaction of the weakened muscles on the bones” (pp. 297-8).
“Nathusius has shown that, with the improved races of the pig, the
shortened legs and snout, the form of the articular condyles of the
occiput, and the position of the jaws with the upper canine teeth
projecting in a most anomalous manner in front of the lower canines,
may be attributed to these parts not having been fully exercised....
These modifications of structure, which are all strictly inherited,
characterise several improved breeds, so that they cannot have been
derived from any single domestic or wild stock. With respect to
cattle, Professor Tanner has remarked that the lungs and liver in
the improved breeds 'are found to be considerably reduced in size
when compared with those possessed by animals having perfect
liberty....' The cause of the reduced lungs in highly-bred animals
which take little exercise is obvious” (pp. 299-300). [And on pp.
301, 302 and 303, he gives facts showing the effects of use and
disuse in changing, among domestic animals, the characters of the
ears, the lengths of the intestines, and, in various ways, the
natures of the instincts.]
But Mr. Darwin's admission, or rather his assertion, that the
inheritance of functionally-produced modifications has been a factor in
organic evolution, is made clear not by these passages alone and by
kindred ones. It is made clearer still by a passage in the preface to
the second edition of his _Descent of Man_. He there protests against
that current version of his views in which this factor makes no
appearance. The passage is as follows.
“I may take this opportunity of remarking that my critics frequently
assume that I attribute all changes of corporeal structure and
mental power exclusively to the natural selection of such variations
as are often called spontaneous; whereas, even in the first edition
of the 'Origin of Species,' I distinctly stated that great weight
must be attributed to the inherited effects of use and disuse, with
respect both to the body and mind.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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