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Show 248 SELECTION. CHAP. XXI. wherever selection is not practised, distinct races are not formed. "Then any one part of the body or quality is n~t attended to, it remains either unchanged or varies in a fluctuatm~ ~anner, whilst at the same time other parts and other quahties may become permanently and greatly modifie~ .. ~ut from the tendency to reversion and to continued ~an~b1hty, those pa~·ts or oraans which are now undergoing rapid Improvement th10ugh selection, are likewise found to vary much. Consequently highly-bred animals, when neglected, soon degenerate; b~t we have no reason to believe that the effects of long-eontmued selection would, if the conditions of life remained the same, be soon and completely lost. 1\'Ian always tends to go to an extreme point in the selecti~n, whether methodical or unconscious, of all useful and pleasmg qualities. This is an important principle, as it leads to continued divergence, and in some rare cases to convergence of character. ThP- possibility of continued divergence rests on the tendency in each part or organ to go on varying in the same manner in which it bas already varied ; and that this occurs, is proved by the steady and gradual improvement of many animals and plants during lengthened periods. The principle of divergence of character, combined with the negl ect and final extinction of all pnwious, less-valued, and intermediate varieties, explains the amount of difference and the distinctness of our several races. Although we may have reached the utmost limit to which certain characters can be modified, yet we are far from having reached, as we have good reason to believe, the limit in the majority of cases. Finally, from the difference between selection as carried on by man and by nature, we can understand how it is that domestic races often, though by no means always, differ in general aspect from closely allied natural species. Throughout this chapter and elsewhere I have spoken of selection as the paramount power, yet its action absolutely depends on what we in our ignorance call spontaneous or accidental variability. Let an architect be compelled to build an edifice with uncut stones, fallen from a precipice. The shape of each fragment may be called accidental ; yet the shape of each has been determined by the force of gravity, the nature CHAP. XXI. SELECTION. 249 of the rock, and the slope of the preeipice,-events and circumstances, all of which depend on natural laws; but there is no relation between these laws and the purpose for which each fragment is used by the builder. In the same manner the variations of each creature are determined by fixed and immutable laws; but these bear no relation to the living structure which is slowly built up through the power of selection, whether this be natural or artificial selection. If our architect succeeded in rearing a noble edifice, using the rough wedge-shaped fragments for the arches, the longer stones for the lintels, and so forth, we should admire his skill even in a higher degree than if he had used stones shaped for the purpose. So it is with selection, whether applied by man or by nature ; for though variability is indispensal>ly necessary, yet, when we look at some highly complex and excellently adapted organism, variability sinks to a quite subordinate position in importance in comparison with selection, in the same manner as the shape of each fragment used by our supposed architect is unimportant in comparison with his skill. |
