See how
different the leaves of the cabbage are, and how extremely alike the
flowers; how unlike the flowers of the heartsease are, and how alike the
leaves; how much the fruit of the different kinds of gooseberries differ in
size, colour, shape, and hairiness, and yet the flowers present very slight
differences. It is not that the varieties which differ largely in some one
point do not differ at all in other points; this is hardly ever--I speak
after careful observation--perhaps never, the case. The law of correlated
variation, the importance of which should never be overlooked, will ensure
some differences; but, as a general rule, it cannot be doubted that 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 result 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 works
of high antiquity, in which the full importance of the principle is
acknowledged. 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.
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