32 UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION. 



ceives extremely small differences, and it is in human 

 nature to value any novelty, however slight, in one's own 

 possession. Nor must the value which would formerly 

 have been set on any slight differences in the individuals 

 of the same species, be judged of by the value which is 

 now set on them, after several breeds have fairly been 

 established. It is known that with pigeons many slight 

 variations now occasionally appear, but these are rejected 

 as faults or deviations from the standard of perfection in 

 each breed. The common goose has not given rise to any 

 marked varieties ; hence the Toulouse and the common 

 breed, which differ only in color, that most fleeting of 

 characters, have lately been exhibited as distinct at our 

 poultry shows. 



These views appear to explain what has sometimes been 

 noticed, namely, that we know hardly anything about the 

 origin or history of any of our domestic breeds. But, in 

 fact, a breed, like a dialect of a language, can hardly be 

 said to have a distinct origin. A man preserves and breeds 

 from an individual with some slight deviation of structure, 

 or takes more care than usual in matching his best animals, 

 and thus improves them, and the improved animals slowly 

 spread in the immediate neighborhood. But they will as 

 yet hardly have a distinct name, and from being only 

 slightly valued, their history will have been disregarded. 

 When further improved by the same slow and gradual 

 process, they will spread more widely, and will be recog- 

 nized as something distinct and valuable, and will then 

 probably first receive a provincial name. In semi-civilized 

 countries, with little free communication, the spreading oi 

 a new sub-breed would be a slow process. As soon as the 

 points of value are once acknowledged, the principle, as 1 

 have called it, of unconscious selection will always tend — ■ 

 perhaps more at one period than at another, as the breed 

 rises or falls in fashion — perhaps more in one district than 

 in another, according to the state of civilization of the in- 

 habitants — slowly to add to the characteristic features of 

 the breed, whatever they may be. But the chance will be 

 infinitely small of any record having been preserved of such 

 slow, varying, and insensible changes. 



