Chap. XX. SELECTION. 205 



lost. We may therefore infer tliat most plants might be 

 made, through long-continued selection, to yield races as 

 different from one another in any character as they now are 

 in those parts for which they are valued and cultivated. 



AVith animals we see nothing of the same kind; but a 

 sufficient number of species have not been domesticated for a 

 fair comparison. Sheep are valued for their wool, and the 

 wool differs much more in the several races than the hair in 

 cattle. Neither sheep, goats, European cattle, nor pigs are 

 valued for their fleetness or strength ; and we do not possess 

 breeds differing in these respects like the race-horse and dray- 

 horse. But fleetness and strength are valued in camels and 

 dogs ; and we have with the former the swift dromedary and 

 heavy camel; with the latter the greyhound and mastiff". 

 But dogs are valued even in a higher degree for their mental 

 qualities and senses ; and every one knows how greatly 

 the races differ in these respects. On the other hand, where 

 the dog is kept solely to serve for food, as in the Polynesian 

 islands and China, it is described as an extremely stupid 

 animal.^^ Blumenbach remarks that " many dogs, such as 

 *' the badger-dog, have a build so marked and so appropriate 

 " for particular purposes, that I should find it very difficult 

 " to persuade mj'self that this astonishing figure was an 

 " accidental consequence of degeneration." ^" Had Blumen- 

 bach reflected on the great principle of selection, he would not 

 have used the term degeneration, and he would not have been 

 astonished that dogs and other animals should liecome excel- 

 lently adapted for the service of man. 



On the whole we may conclude that whatever part or 

 character is most valued — whether the leaves, stems, tubers, 

 bulbs, flowers, fruit, or seed of plants, or the size, strength, 

 fleetness, hairy covering, or intellect of animals — that cha- 

 racter will almost invariably be found to present the greatest 

 amount of difference both in kind and degree. And this 

 result may be safely attributed to man having preserved 

 during a long course of generations the variations which 

 were useful to him, and neglected the others. 



•' Godron, -De I'Espece,' torn. ii. ^° 'The Anthropological Treatises 



p. 27. of Blumenbach/ 1856, p. 292. 



31 



