10 NATURAL INHERITANCE. [CHAP.
tion under separate heads, but as different effects of the same underlying causes.
The origin of these and other prominent processes in heredity is best explained by illustrations. That which will be used was suggested by those miniature gardens, self-made and self-sown, that may be seen in crevices or other receptacles for drifted earth, on the otherwise bare faces of quarries and cliffs. I have frequently studied them through an opera glass, and have occasionally clambered up to compare more closely their respective vegetations. Let us then suppose the aspect of the vegetation, not of one of these detached little gardens, but of a particular island of substantial size, to represent the features, bodily and mental, of some particular parent Imagine two such islands floated far away to a desolate sea, and anchored near together, to represent the two parents. Next imagine a number of islets, each constructed of earth that was wholly destitute of seeds, to be reared near to them. Seeds from both of the islands will gradually make their way to the islets through the agency of winds, currents, and birds. Vegetation will spring up, and when the islets are covered with it, their several aspects will represent the features of the several children. It is almost impossible that the seeds could ever be distributed equally among the islets, and there must be slight differences between 'them in exposure and other conditions, corresponding to differences in pre-natal circumstances. All of these would have some influence upon the vegetation ; hence there would be a corre-
