Chap. I.] UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION. 45 



individuals of the same species, be judged of by the 

 value which is now set on them, after several breeds 

 have fairly been established. It is known that with 

 pigeons many slight variations now occasionally appear, 

 but these are rejected as faults or deviations from the 

 standard of perfection in each breed. The common 

 goose has not given rise to any marked varieties ; hence 

 the Toulouse and the common breed, which differ only 

 in colour, that most fleeting of characters, have lately 

 been exhibited as distinct at our poultry-shows. 



These views appear to explain what has. sometimes 

 been noticed — namely, that we know hardly anything 

 about the origin or history of any of our domestic 

 breeds. But, in fact, a breed, like a dialect of a 

 language, can hardly be said to have a distinct origin. 

 A man preserves and breeds from an individual with 

 some slight deviation of structure, or takes more care 

 than usual in matching his best animals, and thus 

 improves them, and the improved animals slowly spread 

 in the immediate neighbourhood. But they will as yet 

 hardly have a distinct name, and from being only 

 slightly valued, their history will have been disregarded. 

 When further improved by the same slow and gradual 

 process, they will spread more widely, and will be 

 recognised as something distinct and valuable, and will 

 then probably first receive a provincial name. In 

 semi-civilised countries, with little free communication, 

 the spreading of a new sub-breed would be a slow 

 process. As soon as the points of value are once 

 acknowledged, the principle, as I have called it, of 

 unconscious selection will always tend, — perhaps more 

 at one period than at another, as the breed rises or falls 

 in fashion, — perhaps more in one district than in 



