RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1842.07.01. If I cannot prove free crossing in all plants. CUL-DAR47.2. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 7.2022. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR47 contains notes for Natural selection chap. 7 'Laws of Variation'.
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If I cannot prove free crossing in all plants: then the tendency to revert (it applies in all cases) to parent form will come into play— the inferior sports will be killed out & if superior will be preserved & will out-breed the existing forms, but if an indifferent sport, if there be no tendency in selecting the offspring with such peculiarities, reversion to parent form will counteract the production of endless races.— Important July /42/
We must thus explain why races of Peas & Beans did not commence till
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attention was paid to them.— Partly chance& if seedling most like parent were not saved, reversion to parent stock would soon efface the variation.
Shrewsbury July 1 1842
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 28 August, 2023