UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION. 137 



were removed by judicious crosses and selection. The 

 long, smooth wool was also correlated with smooth horns; 

 and as horns and hair are homologous structures, we can 

 understand the meaning of this correlation. If the 

 Mauchamp and the ancon breeds had originated a cen- 

 tury or two ago, we should have had no record of their 

 birth, and many a naturalist would, no doubt, have 

 insisted, especially in the case of the Mauchamp race, 

 that they had each descended from or been crossed with 

 some unknown aboriginal form." 



If with the refined culture of races on large estates, 

 we compare the slight attention bestowed on domestic 

 animals in small peasant farms, remote from the cheering 

 intercourse of the world, and then descend to the treat- 

 ment by savages of their few domestic animals, or their 

 sole tame creature, the dog, conscious artificial selection 

 gradually decreases ; but wherever man attaches to his 

 abode either plants or animals, selection is at least 

 unconsciously exercised. The powerful animal, the par- 

 ticular plant which yields the most abundant nutriment, 

 are employed for propagation without any special fore- 

 thought, and unconscious selection is thus undistinguish- 

 able from that which is methodically practised. The 

 initiation and progress of the production of races is 

 naturally facilitated by the power of placing the animals 

 selected for breeding, in a new environment and fresh 

 conditions of life, and the formation of new races is 

 favoured by the ease with which it is possible to hinder 

 the crossing of forms in course of construction, with races 

 already existing. 



Unquestionably many races of domestic animals are 

 not in a condition in \vhich they can be termed new 



