102 NATURAL SELECTION. [Chap. IV. 



or survival of the fittest, cares nothing for appearances, 

 except in so far as they are useful to any being. She 

 can act on every internal organ, on every shade of con- 

 stitutional difference, on the whole machinery of life. 

 Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that 

 of the being which she tends. Every selected charac- 

 ter is fully exercised by her, as is implied by the fact 

 of their selection. Man keeps the natives of many 

 climates in the same country; he seldom exercises each 

 selected character in some peculiar and fitting manner; 

 he feeds a long and a short beaked pigeon on the same 

 food; he does not exercise a long-backed or long-legged 

 quadruped in any peculiar manner; he exposes sheep 

 with long and short wool to the same climate. He does 

 not allow the most vigorous males to struggle for the 

 females. He does not rigidly destroy all inferior ani- 

 mals, but protects during each varying season, as far as 

 lies in his power, all his productions. He often begins 

 his selection by some half-monstrous form; or at least 

 by some modification prominent enough to catch the 

 eye or to be plainly useful to him. Under nature, the 

 slightest differences of structure or constitution may well 

 turn the nicely-balanced scale in the struggle for life, 

 and so be preserved. How fleeting are the wishes and 

 efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently 

 how poor will be his results, compared with those ac- 

 cumulated by Nature during whole geological periods ! 

 Can we wonder, then, that Nature's productions should 

 be far " truer " in character than man's productions ; 

 that they should be infinitely better adapted to the most 

 complex conditions of life, and should plainly bear the 

 stamp of far higher workmanship ? 



It may metaphorically be said that natural selection 



