seldom 
For seelden Is that hous poore there God is steward. selectedly (se-lek'ted-li), arft'. With selection. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 37. prlme workmen . . . selectedly employed. 
'Tis seldom seen, in men so valiant, 
" 
. . . 
Beywood, Descrip. of the King's Ship, p. 48. (Latham.) 
Experiei 
our beds, i 
seldom (sel'dura), a. [Early mod. E. also sel- 
dome, seldoome; < late ME. seldome, seldone (= 
MD. selden) ; < seldom, adv .] Rare ; infrequent, 
Cath. Aug., p. 328. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, 
[ed. Arber, p. 176). 
A spare diet, and a thin coarse table, seldom refreshment, 
frequent fasts. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, ii. 3. 
seldomness (sel'dum-nes), w. Rareness; infre- 
quency; uncommonness. [Rare.] 
The seldomness of the sight increased the more unquiet 
longing. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii. 
seldom-timest (sel'dum-timz), adv. Rarely; 
hardly ever. 
Which is seldome times before 15 yeeres of age. 
Brinsley, Grammar Schoole, p. 807. 
seldseent, [< ME. seldsene, seldcene, seltsene 
(= MD. seldsaem, D. seldsaam = MLG. selsen, 
seltsen, seltsem, seltsam = OHG. seltsdni, MHG. 
seltsxne, G. seltsam = Icel. sjaldsenn = Sw. sall- 
sam = Dan. s&lsom the G. Sw. Dan. forms 
wjth the second element conformed to the term. 
-sam, -som, = E. -some), rarely seen, < scld, rare- 
ly, + -sene, in comp., < sedn, see, + adj. forma- 
tion -ne (-sene being thus nearly the same as the 
pp. sewen, with an added formative vowel).] 
Rarely seen; rare. 
Our speche schal be seldcene. Ancren Riwle, p. 80. 
seld-shownt (seld'shon), a. [< seld, adv., + 
shown. Cf. selcoutll, seldseen.] Rarely shown 
or exhibited. 
Seld-shown flamens 
Do press among the popular throngs, and puff 
To win a vulgar station. Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 229. 
selet. An obsolete spelling of seal 1 , seal 2 , seel 1 . 
select ( se-lekt'). v. [< L. selectus, pp. of seli- 
gere, pick out, choose, < se-, apart, + legere, pick, 
choose: see legend. Cf. elect, collect.'] I. trans. 
To choose or pick out from a number ; pick out ; 
choose : as, to select the best ; to select a site for 
a monument. 
To whom does Mr. Gladstone assign the office of select- 
ing a religion for the state from among hundreds of reli- 
gions? Sfacaulay, Gladstone on Church and State. 
= Syn. To Elect, Prefer, etc. (see choose), single out, fix 
upon, pitch upon. 
II. intrans. To conduct artificial selection 
methodically. See second quotation under me- 
thodical selection, below. 
select (se-lekf), a. and n. [< Sp. Pg. sdecto, < 
L. selectus, chosen, pp. of seligcre, choose : see 
select, v.] I. a. 1. Chosen on account of spe- 
cial excellence or fitness ; carefully picked or 
selected; hence, choice; composed of or con- 
taining the best, choicest, or most desirable: 
as, select poems ; a select party ; a select neigh- 
borhood. 
To this must be added industrious and select reading. 
Milton, Church-Government, Pref., ii. 
We found a diary of her solemn resolutions tending to 
Eractical virtue, with letters from select friends, all put 
ito exact method. Eoelyn, Diary, Sept 17, 1678. 
2. Careful or fastidious in choice, or in asso- 
ciating with others; exclusive; also, made with 
or exhibiting carefulness or fastidiousness. 
[Colloq.] 
And I have spoken for Gwendolen to be a member of 
our Archery Club the Brackenshaw Archery Club the 
most select thing anywhere. 
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, iii. 
Select committee, vestry, etc. See the nouns. Select 
Meeting, in the Society of Friends, a meeting of minis- 
ters and elders. In some yearly meetings the name has 
of late been superseded by that of Meeting of Ministry and 
Oversight, with some additions to the membership. =Syn. 
1. Picked. See choose. 
II. n. 1. That which is selected or choice. 
[Colloq. or trade use.] 2. Selection. [Rare.] 
Borrow of the profligate speech-makers or lyars of the 
time in print, and make a select out of a select of them to 
adorn a party. Roger North, Examen, p. 32. (Dairies.) 
selected (se-lek'ted), p.a. 1. Specially chosen 
or preferred ; choice ; select : as, selected ma- 
terials. 
Great princes are her slaves ; selected beauties 
Bow at her beck. 
Fletcher (and another"!), Prophetess, iii. 1. 
at. Specially set apart or devoted. 
The limbs they sever from th' inclosing hide, 
The thighs, selected to the gods, divide. 
Pope, Iliad, ii. 504. 
344 
choosing, or preferring ; a choosing or picking 
out of one or more from a number ; 
He who is deficient in the art of selection may, by show- 
ing nothing but the truth, produce all the effect of the 
grossest falsehood. Macaulay, History. 
2. A thing or number of things chosen or picked 
out. 
His company generally consisted of men of rank and 
fashion some literary characters, and a selection from the 
stage. W. Cooke, S. Foote, I. 143. 
The English public, outside the coteries of culture, does 
not pretend to care for poetry except in selections. 
Contemporary Rev., LII. 479. 
3. In Mol., the separation of those forms of 
animal and vegetable life which are to survive 
from those which are to perish ; the facts, prin- 
ciples, or conditions of such distinction between 
organisms ; also, the actual result of such prin- 
ciples or conditions; also, a statement of or a 
doctrine concerning such facts ; especially, nat- 
ie phrases below Artificial 
,<uvu, "<" = -e ~y in modifying the processes and 
janging the results of natural selection ; the facts or 
principles upon which such interference with natural evo- 
lutionary processes is based and conducted. This has been 
going on more or less systematically since man has domes- 
ticated animals or cultivated plants for his own benefit. 
Such selection may be either unconscious or methodical 
(see below). It has constantly tended to the latter, which 
is now systematically conducted on a large scale, and has 
resulted in numberless creations of utility or of beauty, or 
of both, which would not have existed had the animals and 
plants thus improved been left to themselves that is, to 
the operation of natural selection. Examples of artificial 
selection are seen in the breeding of horses for speed, bot- 
tom, or strength, or for any combination of these qualities ; 
of cattle for beef or milk ; of sheep for mutton or wool ; of 
dogs for speed, scent, courage, docility, etc. ; of pigs for 
fat pork ; of fowls for flesh or eggs ; of pigeons for fancied 
shapes and colors, or as carriers ; in the cultivation of ce- 
reals, fruits, and vegetables to improve their respective 
qualities and increase their yield, and of flowers to enhance 
their beauty and fragrance. Methodical selection, arti- 
ficial selection methodically or systematically carried on 
to or toward a foreseen desired result ; the facts or prin- 
ciples upon which such selection is based, and the means 
of its accomplishment. See above. 
Methodical selection is that which guides a man who sys- 
tematically endeavours to modify a breed according to 
some predetermined standard. 
Darwin, Var. of Animals and Plants, xx. 177. 
In the case of methodical selection, a breeder selects for 
some definite object, and free intercrossing will wholly 
stop his work. Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 103. 
Natural selection, the preservation of some forms of 
natural causes which, in the course of evolution, favor 
some organisms instead of some others in consequence of 
differences in the organisms themselves, (a) The fact of 
the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence 
which means that those animals and plants which are best 
adapted, or have the greatest adaptability, to the conditions 
of their environment do survive other organisms which are 
less adapted, or less capable of being adapted, to such 
conditions. This fact rests upon observation, and is un- 
questionable, (b) The means by which or the conditions 
under which some forms survive while others perish ; the 
law of the survival of the fittest ; the underlying princi- 
ple of such survival, and the agencies which effect that 
result. These seem to be mainly intrinsic, or inherent in 
the organism ; and they are correlated, in the most vital 
manner possible, with the varying plasticity of different 
organisms, or their degree of susceptibility to modifica- 
tion by their environment. Those which respond most 
be modified in a way that adapts them to their surround- 
ings, which adaptation gives them an advantage over 
less favored organisms in striving to maintain themselves. 
Hence (and this is the gist of Darwinian natural selection) 
(c) The gradual development of individual differences 
which are favorable to the preservation of the life of the 
individual, with corresponding gradual extinction of those 
peculiarities which are unfavorable to that end ; also, the 
transmission of such modified characters to offspring, and 
so the perpetuation of some species and the extinction of 
others a fact in nature respecting which there is no ques- 
tion, since we know that more species, genera, etc., have 
perished than are now living, (d) The theory of natural 
selection ; any statement of opinion or belief on that sub- 
ject, which may or may not adequately reflect the facts in 
the case. Ignorance alike of these facts and of this theory 
has been fruitful of misunderstandings and objections re- 
specting the latter. Some of its supporters have made of 
the theory a cause of the facts which it is simply designed 
to explain ; some of its opponents, unconsciously biased 
perhaps by such other extremists, have denied that the 
theory has any validity. Between these extremes, the 
author of the theory states explicitly that it neither ori- 
ginates variability, nor accounts for the origin of varia- 
tions, in individuals, still less in species ; but that, given 
the origination and existence of variations, it shows that 
some of these are preserved while others are not ; that 
favorable variations tend to be perpetuated and unfavor- 
able variations to become extinct ; that those variations 
which best adapt an organism to its environment are most 
favorable to its preservation ; and, consequently, that the 
selector 
theory of natural selection is adequate to explain, to some 
extent, the observed fact of the survival of the fittest in 
the struggle for existence that is, natural selection in 
sense (a) above. Natural selection, in so far as sex is con- 
cerned, is specified as sexual selection (see below). The 
facts and principles of natural selection, as recognized and 
used by man for his own benefit in his treatment of plants 
and animals, come under the head of artificial selection 
(sue above). An extension of the theory of natural selec- 
tion to the origination (as distinguished from the preser- 
vation) of individual variations has been named physical 
selection (see below). 
This preservation of favourable variations and the re- 
jections of injurious variations I call A'atural Selection. 
Variations neither useful nor injurious would not be af- 
fected by natural selection, and would be left a fluctuating 
element, as perhaps we see in the species called poly- 
morphic. Darmn, Origin of Species (ed. 1JS60), iv. 
Natural selection . . . implies that the individuals 
which are best fitted for the complex and in the course 
of ages changing conditions to which they are exposed 
generally survive and procreate their kind. 
Daru-in, Var. of Animals and Plants, xx. 178. 
Physical selection, the law of origin for differential 
changes or modifications iu organisms which have arisen 
through the action of physical causes in the environment, 
in habits, etc. It is distinguished from natural selection, 
which relates not to the origin but to the preservation of 
these changes. A. Hyatt. Sexual selection, that prov- 
ince or department of natural selection in which sex is 
especially concerned, or in which the means by which 
one sex attracts the other comes prominently into play. 
Thus, anything which exhibits the strength, prowess, or 
beauty of the male attracts the female, and decides her 
preference for one rather than another individual of the 
opposite sex, with the result of affecting the offspring 
for the better ; and this principle of selection, operative 
through many generations, may in the end modify the 
specific characters of animals, and thus become an im- 
portant factor in natural selection. 
If it be admitted that the females prefer or are uncon- 
sciously excited by the more beautiful males, then the 
males would slowly but surely be rendered more and more 
attractive through sexual selection. 
Darwin, Descent of Man (ed. 1881X p. 496. 
For my own part, I conclude that of all the causes which 
have led to the differences in external appearance between 
the races of men, and to a certain extent between man 
and the lower animals, sexual selection has been by far the 
most efficient. Darwin, Descent of Man (ed. 1871), II. 367. 
Unconscious selection, artificial selection effected un- 
knowingly, or carried on without system or method ; man's 
agency In unmethodical selection, or the result of that 
agency. See the extract. 
Unconscious selection in the strictest sense of the word 
that is, the saving of the more useful animals and the neg- 
lect or slaughter of the less useful, without any thought 
of the future must have gone on occasionally from the 
remotest period and amongst the most barbarous nations. 
Darwin, Var. of Animals and Plants, xx. 199. 
selective (se-lek'tiv), a. [< select + -ive.] Of, 
pertaining to, or characterized by selection or 
choice; selecting; using that which is selected 
or clioice. 
Who can enough wonder at the pitch of this selective 
providence of the Almighty? 
Bp. Hall, Contemplations, iii. 122. 
Selective breeding through many generations has suc- 
ceeded in producing inherited structural changes, some- 
times of very remarkable character. 
W. H. Flower, Fashion in Deformity, p. 5. 
Strange to say, so patent a fact as the perpetual pres- 
ence of selective attention has received hardly any notice 
from psychologists of the English empiricist school. 
W. James, Prin. of Psychology, I. 402. 
Selective absorption, the absorption of substances 
which arrest certain parts only of the radiation of heat 
and light from any source : as, the selective absorption of 
the sun's atmosphere, which is the cause of the larger 
part of the dark lines in the solar spectrum. See spectrum. 
This power of absorption is selective, and hence, for the 
most part, arise the phenomena of color. 
Tyndall, Light and Elect., p. 69. 
selectively (se-lek'tiv-li), adv. By means of 
selected specimens; by selection. 
There is no variation which may not be transmitted, 
and which, if selectively transmitted, may not become the 
foundation of a race. Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 269. 
selectman (se-lekt 'man), n. ; pi. selectmen 
(-men). [< select + miin.~\ In New England 
towns, one of a board of officers chosen annual- 
ly to manage various local concerns. Their num- 
ber is usually from three to nine in each town, and they 
constitute a kind of executive authority. In small towns 
the office is frequently associated with that of assessor 
and overseer of the poor. The office was d erived originally 
from that of select vestryman. See vestry. 
He soon found, however, that they were merely the se- 
lectmen of the settlement, armed with no weapon but 
the tongue, and disposed only to meet him on the field of 
argument. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 236. 
As early as 1633, the office of townsman or selectman ap- 
pears, who seems first to have been appointed by the Gen- 
eral Court, as here, at Concord, in 1639. 
Emerson, Hist. Discourse at Concord. 
selectness (se-lekt'nes), . Select character 
or quality, liailey. 
selector (se-lek'tpr),. [< LL. selector, a chooser, 
< L. scliyere, pp. MtMtW, choose : see select.'} 1. 
One who selects or chooses. 
Inventors and selectors of their own systems. 
Knox, Essays, No. 104. 
