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vigilance, we answer that Artificial Selection acts with a 
vigilance which, if not impossible, is singularly improbable 
in nature. Not only does Artificial Selection bar out 
accidental death and control Sexual Selection in a man 
ner impossible in nature, but it selects with a care which 
cannot be surpassed in nature or anywhere else. Let us 
hear what Mr. Darwin says upon this subject. 
“ In the great majority of cases a new character, or some superiority 
in an old character, is at first faintly pronounced and is not strongly 
inherited ; and then the full difficulty of selection is experienced. 
Indomitable patience, the finest powers of discrimination and sound 
judgment, must be exercised during many years. A clearly pre 
determined object must be kept steadily in view. Few men are 
endowed with all these qualities, especially with that of discriminating 
very slight differences ; judgment can be acquired only by long 
experience ; but if any of these qualities be wanting, the labour of a 
life may be thrown away. I have been astonished when celebrated 
breeders, whose skill and judgment have been proved by their success 
at exhibitions, have shown me their animals, which appeared all 
alike, and have assigned their reasons for matching this and that 
individual. The importance of the great principle of selection mainly 
lies in this power of selecting scarcely appreciable differences, which 
nevertheless are found to be transmissible, and which can be accumu 
lated until the result is made manifest to the eyes of every beholder.” 
—(The Variation, vol. ii., p. 193.) 
I think it would be rather a rash assertion to make 
if we were to say with Mr. Romanes that the death which 
takes place in nature “ must act with so much greater 
vigilance ” than is exhibited by the cattle-breeder and the 
pigeon-fancier: for this death is often indiscriminative— 
the conditions under which the test is applied are often 
such that it would be rash to say whether the survivor 
were the fittest or the most fortunate. Above all, the 
animals of prey, which are often the agents of so-called 
selection in nature, are so much impressed with the 
importance of satisfying their hunger that they would 
not be likely to take note of differences which escaped 
the keen eyes of Mr. Darwin.