194 



SELECTION. 



Chap. XX. 



usly. 1 Lastly, we have Natural selection, which impl 



fitted for the compl 



that the individuals which 

 and in t 



best 



of ages changing conditions to which they 



are 



posed, generally survive and procreate their kind 



W 



domestic product 



with which alone 



here strictly 



•ned, natural selection comes to a certain extent into 

 , independently of, and even in opposition to, the 



of man 



Methodical Selection. — What man has effected within recent 

 times in England by methodical selection is clearly shown by 



our exhibitions of improved quadrupeds and fancy birds. With 

 respect to cattle, sheep, and pigs, we owe their great improve- 

 ment to a long series of well-known names — Bakewell, Colling, 

 Ellman, Bates, Jonas Webb, Lords Leicester and Western, 



Fisher Hobbs, and others. Agricultural writers are unanimous 



on the power of selection : any number of statements to this 

 effect could be quoted ; a few will suffice. Youatt, a sagacious 

 and experienced observer, writes, 2 the principle of selection is 

 " that which enables the agriculturist, not only to modify the 

 character of his flock, but to change it altogether." A great 

 breeder of shorthorns 3 says, "In the anatomy of the shoulder 

 " modern breeders have made great improvements on the 

 " Ketton shorthorns by correcting the defect in the knuckle or 

 " shoulder-joint, and by laying the top of the shoulder more 

 " snugly into the crop, and thereby filling up the hollow 

 ' • behind it. . . . . The eye has its fashion at different periods : 

 " at one time the eye high and outstanding from the head, and 

 " at another time the sleepy eye sunk into the head ; but these 

 " extremes have merged into the medium of a full, clear, and 

 " prominent eye with a placid look." 



Again, hear what an excellent judge of pigs 4 says : " The legs 



1 The term unconscious selection has 



grains of sand of equal size. 



been objected to as a contradiction ; but 2 On Sheep, 1838, p. 60. 



see some excellent observations on this 



head by Prof. 



( 



Hist. 



Review/ Oct. 1864, p. 578), who re- 

 marks that when the wind heaps up 

 f-and-dunes it sifts and unconsciously 

 selects from the gravel on the beach 



3 Mr. J. Wright on Shorthorn Cattle, 

 in 'Journal of Eoyal Agricult. Soc., 

 vol. vii. pp. 208, 209. 



4 H. D. Eichardson on Pigs, 1847, 

 p. 44. 



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