NATURAL SELECTION 125 



or survival of the fittest, cares nothing for appearances, 

 except in so far as they are useful to any being. She 

 can act on every internaPofgan, on every shade of con- 

 stitutional difference, on tEe wEole machinery""©! life. 

 Han selects only for his own good: Nature only for 

 that of the being which she tends. Every selected 

 character is fully exercised by her, as is implied by 

 the fact of their selection. Man keeps the natives of 

 many climates in the same country; he seldom exercises 

 each selected character in some peculiar and fitting man- 

 ner; he feeds a long and a short beaked pigeon on the 

 same food; he does not exercise a long-backed or long- 

 legged quadruped in any peculiar manner; he exposes 

 sheep with long and short wool to the same climate. 

 He does not allow the most vigorous males to struggle 

 for the females. He does not rigidly destroy all inferior 

 animals, but protects during each varying season, as far 

 as lies in his power, all his productions. He often begins 

 his selection by some half -monstrous form; or at least by 

 some modification prominent enough to catch the eye or 

 to be plainly useful to him. Under nature, the slightest 

 differences of structure or constitution may well turn the 

 nicely-balanced scale in the struggle for life, and so be 

 preserved. How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of "^ 

 man! how short his time! and consequently how poor 

 will be his results, compared with those accumulated by 

 Nature during whole geological periods! Can we wonder, 

 then, that Nature's productions should be far "truer" in 

 character than man's productions; that they should be 

 infinitely better adapted to the most complex conditions 

 of life, and should plainly bear the stamp of far higher 

 workmanship ? 



