The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-04-29

Observation-Disclosures AGAssIz saiu i.i
his last lecture at Cambridge that he "an1 Gu
to assist his hearers to become able 10 iofm
independent opinions of their own Oh cur
ron, theories. lie never lectures That nc has
NOT give DAnwIS a blow. Here is ono:
"And yet, with all their Elasticity and
nover TO as,imiIatc or to reject new ieaturcs,
wo do not find that species change. Inc
Inv of Inheritance seems SO ordained as To
retain what l.; essential to the type, and 10 al
low Of variation only in what Is not char
actcristc of the typical organization. AT NIL
events, as far as we can trace tue animals
with which we are familiar nOw-and we
can follow many OF them beyond the prmi-
tive ages of mankind into the geological
cpochs Immediately preceding and connected
with. our own---we find no indication what
ever that any animal has ever sweryed from
his own type. Slight variations occur, such
us occur about Us every day, but they are
individual differences, coming and going
with new generations, sometimes preserved
through generations, aud even when main-
tancd by intelligent care becoming perna-
ncnt in what are called breeds, but never al
fccting typical structure. We must, as it
seems TO me, look upon the law of inherl-
lance as intended 10 preserve, not to diver
sify types active only so far as to introduce
freshness, a constant renewal of indlyidtl-
ality, as it were. but never imparnS original
patterns or nOrlnS."
But here is one fact which would out
weigh thousand theories
"In direct connection with this question
of inheritance is that Of hyhridity. have
shown ynu that The progeny of closc!y.allled
animals may resemble inditlcrently the male
or female from which they spring. All the
descendants may be like the one or the other
parent, or may share the characteristics ol
both. Bot whenever animals OF different
SPECIES cross with each 0thcr-aS, Tor IN
stance, the horse and donkey-thc progeny
is always medium between the two-nel-
tler horse nor donkey, but mule. In
other words, the offspring Is always hall
breed, ALWAYS intermediate between the Ia
ther and mother. Among animals THIS occurs
between what are called species. Among
men it occurs between what are called races.
The children of whites and negroes are ncl-
Their blacks nor WhiteS-thcy arc mulattocs.
The children of negroes and Indians are
neither the one nor the other, but are l!alf-
breeds, having characteristics of 10th. The
same is true of the white and AIlstli-
liau, the white and Chinese. This is one
of the facts brought forward in favor
of the independent origin Of the races OF
men. 1t has been on this account inferred
that they must be distinct from each other
in the same way as species OF animals are
distinct from each other. | will not dWclt
upon this puiut, but only ask what bcarinS
these facts have upon the preservation or
alteration Of type. What is the next step'
Suppose that in the next generation the cross
take. place between the halfbreed-We VIII
say a mulatto and Il white, or between
the mulatto and 4 black-and this CONTINUES
for two or three 1cneratlohS' The mixture
is then completely gone, ana We revert 10
the pure type. The saint Is true OF anluiais :
we may produce bybrids or ha!f-lrceu>, plt
put them for Il generation or TWO with thcir
own kind, they have 10 power 10 transmit
the bias they haye received, tut their pro.
"cnv revert to their own original norm. Ii
seems 10 me this is very strong evidence
that all these laws Of Inheritance and trans
mission tend to the maintenance rather tlan
to the divcrsiiication of type
DAawiys whole theory is based upon the
idea that all animals haze the power to trans
nit Tie bus they have received. AGAsSE
shows thu this is not 80. The tac.s he
cites are lnl;tlI>Wrrablr.
By the way, the Professor comes very near
savin" that the negro and the white are as
different As the donkey and the horse.