| → OMIT 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| I may add, 1859 |
|
| → the full acknowledgment of the 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| works of high antiquity, in which the full 1872 |
|
| → in works of high antiquity. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| is acknowledged. 1872 |
|
| → states that 1869 1872 |
| shows how much 1859 1860 1861 |
| shown how much 1866 |
|
|
the continued selection of slight variations, either in the leaves, the flowers, or the fruit, will produce races differing from each other chiefly in these characters. |
|
| It may be objected that the principle of selection has been reduced to methodical practice for scarcely more than three-quarters of a century; it has certainly been more attended to of late years, and many treatises have been published on the subject; and the
→OMIT
has been, in a corresponding degree, rapid and important. But it is very far from true that the principle is a modern discovery. I could give several references to
→the full acknowledgment of the
importance of the principle
→in works of high antiquity. In rude and barbarous periods 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 distinctly given in an ancient Chinese
rules are laid down by some of the Roman 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
→states that
good domestic
are
by the negroes
the interior of Africa who have not associated with Europeans. Some of these facts do not show actual selection, but they show that the breeding 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
|
