Artificial and Natural Selection 801 



I think that the principal differences might bet- 

 ter become understood by the introduction of 

 the word election into the discussion of ques- 

 tions of heredity. Election meant formerly the 

 preferential choice of single individuals, while 

 the derivation of the word selection points to a 

 segregation of assemblies into their larger parts. 

 Or to state it in a shorter way, individual selec- 

 tion is exactly what is usually termed elec- 

 tion. Choosing one man from among thou- 

 sands is to elect him, but a select party is a 

 group of chosen persons. There would be no 

 great difficulty in the introduction of the word 

 election, as breeders are already in the 

 habit of calling their choice individuals ' ' elite, ' ' 

 at least in the case of beets and of cereals. 



This intra-specific selection affords a second 

 point for the comparison between natural and 

 artificial processes. This case is readily grant- 

 ed to be more difficult than the first, but there 

 can be no doubt that the similarity is due to 

 strictly comparable causes. In practice this 

 process is scarcely second in importance to the 

 selection between species, and in numerous 

 cases it rests upon it, and crowns it, bringing 

 the isolated forms up to their highest possible 

 degree of usefulness. In nature it does quite 

 the same, adapting strains of individuals to 

 the local conditions of their environment. Im- 



