THE METHOD 73 



him. They are done for his own benefit. He cannot 

 breed for the benefit of the animal. 



THE MEANING OP NATURAL SELECTION. For, man does 

 not know just what is for the animal's benefit. The 

 animal itself does not. Nothing suffices, as far as is now 

 discernible, for this purpose, except natural selection, 

 and that is a negative, not a positive force. 



It is not likely that an increase in the amount of 

 milk in the udder ; of prime beefsteak in the carcass ; 

 of wool on the body ; or large production of eggs ; or of 

 music in the bird, are such variations as nature would 

 select as being the most beneficial to an animal in its 

 struggle for existence. So that, while these artificial 

 selections of man are proper for the purpose, for which 

 he does them, yet they are only indirect evidence of 

 how real species are formed. 



They have shown, however, that selection will pro- 

 duce new varieties, in inheritance, and that sometimes, 

 in the vegetable kingdom, what may be called a new 

 species is formed, by one variation, per saltum. 



All the facts, both artificial and natural, prove that 

 species of both vegetables and animals are not im- 

 mutable, and that is the main principle, most important 

 to be established. The experiments, in domesticity, 

 have been of great value, in bringing to the eye of 

 man, empirical knowledge, that the slow and obscure 

 process of nature did not give. It took the theory, 

 to a large extent, out of much speculation, on account 

 of the long time, as man marks time, it was supposed 

 to take, to form a new species, and brought it, partially 

 at least, within his scientific control. When a method 

 is seen from beginning to end by man, then polemics 

 become superfluous. 



It is simply this, the dying of the weak, seemingly 



