ain the same, rendering habitual and constant the condition of
individuals badly fed, diseased, or languishing, their internal
organization becomes finally modified, and reproduction between the
individuals in question preserves the acquired modifications, and
ends in giving rise to a race very distinct from that of the
individuals which unceasingly meet with circumstances favorable to
their development.

"A very dry spring-time is the cause of the grass of a field growing
very slowly, remaining scraggy and puny, flowering and fruiting
without growing much.

"A spring interspersed with warm days and rainy days makes the same
grass grow rapidly, and the harvest of hay is then excellent.

"But if any cause perpetuates the unfavorable circumstances
surrounding these plants, they vary proportionally, at first in
their appearance and general condition, and finally in several
particulars of their characters.

"For example, if some seed of any of the grasses referred to should
be carried into an elevated place, on a dry and stony greensward
much exposed to the winds, and should germinate there, the plant
which should be able to live in this place would always be badly
nourished, and the individuals reproduced there continuing to exist
under these depressing circumstances, there would result a race
truly different from that living in the field, though originating
from it. The individuals of this new race would be small, scraggy,
and some of their organs, having developed more than others, would
then offer special proportions.

"Those who have observed much, and who have consulted the great
collections, have become convinced that in proportion as the
circumstances of habitat, exposure, climate, food, mode of life,
etc., come to change, the characters of size, form, proportion
between the parts, color, consistence, agility, and industry in the
animals change proportionally.

"What nature accomplishes after a long time, we bring about every
day by suddenly changing, in the case of a living plant, the
circumstances under which it and all the individuals of its species
exist.

"All botanists know that the plants which they transplant from their
birthplace into gardens for cultivation gradually undergo changes
which at last render them unrecognizable. Many plants naturally
very hairy then become glabrous, or almost so; many of those which
were c