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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.