148 Intelligent Selection. 
of almost every species, yet they are, as a rule, all industrial. In 
the horse, for instance, the properties selected are speed, graceful- 
ness of form, size, endurance, muscular strength, etc. In cattle 
milk-giving properties and delicacy of flesh are sought. Sheep are 
selected for fineness of wool and palatableness of meat. In swine 
pork-yielding powers are the sole consideration. Among domesti- 
cated birds, egg-laying powers are the main consideration in the hen, 
while in all these birds delicacy of flesh is particularly considered. 
Beauty of plumage and peculiarity of form are also favorite selective 
properties, and particularly in the case of pigeons, which have . 
yielded extraordinary diversities in this respect. 
In all these experiments but two considerations have ruled : the 
commercial value of the product, and its adaptation to man’s pleas- 
ure. The money it will bring, and the enjoyment it will give to 
man’s senses or his appetite, have been the overruling influences in 
the selection of varieties of plants and animals, and if any variation 
approaching specific value has been preserved, it has been through 
chance rather than design. The characters sought for have been 
superficial ones only, and in consequence superficial varieties mainly 
have been obtained. 
Had this long series of experiments in selection been conducted 
by scientists, and for scientific purposes only, the results must have 
been widely different. The commercial value of the product might 
have been much less; the scientific value must have been 
much greater. Among the innumerable variations in form and 
character of animals and plants which incessantly appear, there must 
be some of more essential and less superficial significance than others. _ 
Only the eye of a trained scientist could discriminate between these, 
and by persistent selection of such variations, and neglect of all others, 
there can be no doubt that the question as to whether species can be 
produced by intelligent selection would have been far nearer settle- 
ment than it is now. 
In the case of only a few animals has the consideration in selec- 
tion been other than to aid in the support or to administer to the 
pleasure of man. Of the species in which wider purposes have 
ruled, the principal is the dog. In this animal there has been little 
tendency to subvert the natural instincts. Most of the domesticated 
species have been so diligently cared for by man that they have lost 
the ability to care for themselves, and the intelligence which they 
