118 HAECKEL 



success for ages — only the Linn^s and Cuviers 

 had not noticed the fact. How does he accom- 

 plish it ? 



A breeder desires to give his sheep finer wool. 

 He examines the wool of a thousand sheep. The 

 difference between them is so slight that it is of 

 no practical consequence. But the farmer selects 

 the male sheep out of the thousand that has the 

 best quality of wool, and the corresponding female. 

 He crosses the two. Their young have wool of 

 a slightly improved quality, and he picks out the 

 best amongst them once more for crossing. He 

 continues this through several generations. At 

 last, with his continuous selection and crossing, 

 the quality of the wool increases so much that 

 any one can recognise it at once, and it has a 

 distinct cultural value. In this way improved 

 races of animals and large numbers of fine flowers 

 have been produced by breeders : by artificial 

 selection of the fittest to reproduce in each genera- 

 tion. This was done by man — not by God, not 

 by nature in remote times, but under our very 

 eyes, by man. 



Now for an analogous process without man. 

 Let our sheep live wild in any country. No 

 human breeder has any interest in them : God 

 does not seem to interfere with them. They live 

 on and on, for thousands of years, generation after 

 generation. Here again, in the wild state, we find 

 the same slight variations in the quality of the 

 wool. One sheep has a thicker coat than another. 

 For thousands of years the fact is without signifi- 



