The
principle of selection I find distinctly given in an ancient Chinese
encyclopaedia. Explicit 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 breeds are
highly valued by the negroes in 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 paid to breeding, for the inheritance of good and bad qualities is
so obvious.
UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION.
At the present time, eminent breeders try by methodical selection, with a
distinct object in view, to make a new strain or sub-breed, superior to
anything of the kind in the country. But, for our purpose, a form of
selection, which may be called unconscious, and which results from every
one trying to possess and breed from the best individual animals, is more
important.
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