THE METHOD 71 



for meat and beauty. In all instances of breeding in 

 domestication, the animals have been withdrawn from 

 their natural environment, and habits, placed in re- 

 stricted quarters, artificially fed and protected, handled 

 by man in every way for an artificial result, which 

 nature never had in view. Their habits were changed, 

 their natural way of procreation was regulated by man, 

 not for any supposed benefit to the species in its 

 struggle for existence, but for the benefit of man, who 

 did the selecting, -which therefore was artificial, while 

 in the wild state, it is a natural selection. In this arti- 

 ficial selection for breeding by proper crosses, many 

 new variations have been produced, and apparently 

 new species, which breed true, as long as the proper 

 selection continues to be made by man. But as soon as 

 the artificial selection is withdrawn, and the organisms 

 are left to their former natural conditions, the artificial 

 varieties, and species, revert to the former natural 

 species ; the variations then occur according to the law 

 of nature, and selection becomes a very different prin- 

 ciple. Man's artificial selection was done by preserv- 

 ing and placing together those males and females which 

 showed the variations, or qualities -which would be most 

 useful to him, in serving him in his wants and fancies, 

 in life. For instance, a dairyman selected for his own 

 use, those animals with the largest milk production, or 

 the producers of the most butter; those lacking in 

 these qualities, he sold to the butcher. The breeder of 

 stock, for the butcher, selected for sire and dam, those 

 which would cut up, when slaughtered, into the most 

 sirloin and porter house steaks; the breeder of sheep 

 those that would produce the most wool, or mutton. 



But these methods of selection are not those of 

 nature. The object is different. Here animals of all 



