34 
METHODICAL SELECTION. 
Chap. I. 
of English history choice animals were often imported, 
and laws were passed to prevent their exportation: the 
destruction of horses under a certain size was ordered, 
and this may be compared to the “roguing’^ of plants 
by nurserymen. The principle of selection I find dis¬ 
tinctly given in an ancient Chinese encyclopaedia. Ex¬ 
plicit rules are laid down by some of the Eoman classical 
writers. From passages in Genesis, it is clear that the 
colour of domestic animals was at that early period 
attended to. Savages now sometimes cross their dogs 
with wild canine animals, to improve the breed, and they 
formerly did so, as is attested by passages in Pliny. The 
savages in South Africa match their draught cattle by 
colour, as do some of the Esquimaux their teams of dogs. 
Livingstone shows how much good domestic breeds are 
valued by the negroes of the interior of Africa who have 
not associated with Europeans. Some of these facts do 
not show actual selection, but they show that the breed¬ 
ing of domestic animals was carefully attended to in 
ancient times, and is now attended to by the lowest 
savages. It would, indeed, have been a strange fact, had 
attention not been paid to breeding, for the inheritance 
of good and bad qualities is so obvious. 
At the present time, eminent breeders try by me¬ 
thodical selection, with a distinct object in view, to make 
a new strain or sub-breed, superior to anything existing 
in the country. But, for our purpose, a kind of Selec¬ 
tion, which may be called Unconscious, and which results 
from every one trying to possess and breed from the best 
individual animals, is more important. Thus, a man 
who intends keeping pointers naturally tries to get as 
good dogs as he can, and afterwards breeds from his 
own best dogs, but he has no wish or expectation of 
permanently altering the breed. Nevertheless I can¬ 
not doubt that this process, continued during centuries. 
