62 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



covery. T could r^ive several reierences to w( rks of h igh 

 antiquity, in whicli the full importance of the principle is 

 acknowledged. In rude and barbarous periods of English 

 history choice animals were often imported, and laws were 

 passed to prevent their exportation: the destruction of 

 horses under a certain size was ordered, and this may be 

 compared to the "roguing" of plants by nurserymen. 

 The principle of selection I find distinctly given in an 

 ancient Chinese encyclopedia. Explicit rules are laid 

 down by some of the Roman classical writers. From 

 passages m Genesis, it is clear that the color of domestic 

 animals was at that early period attended to. Savages 

 now sometimes cross their dogs with wild canine animals, 

 to improve the breed, and they formerly did so, as is 

 attested by passages in Pliny. The savages in South 

 Africa match their draught cattle by color, as do some 

 of the Eskimos their teams of dogs. Livingstone states 

 that good domestic breeds are highly valued by the 

 negroes in the interior of Africa who have not associated 

 with Europeans. Some of these facts do not show actual 

 selection, but they show that the breeding of domestic 

 animals was carefully attended to in ancient times, and 

 is now attended to by the lowest savages. It would, in- 

 deed, have been a strange fact, had attention not been 

 paid to breeding, for the inheritance of good and bad 

 qualities is so obvious. 



Unconscious iSelection 



At the present time, eminent breeders try by methodi- 

 cal selection, with a distinct object in view, to make a 

 new strain or sub-breed, superior to anything of the kind 

 in the country. But, for our purpose, a form of Selec- 



