cely to be wondered at that even so
extraordinary an instance of correlation as this should have arisen thus
by accident, and then have been perfected by such an _indirect_ agency
of natural selection as is here suggested[37].

[37] Note B.

* * * * *

The third general class of facts which tell so immensely in favour of
natural selection as an important cause of organic evolution, are those
of domestication. The art of the horticulturist, the fancier, the
cattle-breeder, &c., consists in producing greater and greater
deviations from a given wild type of plant or animal, in any particular
direction that may be desired for purposes either of use or of beauty.
Cultivated cereals, fruits, and flowers are known to have been all
derived from wild species; and, of course, the same applies to all our
domesticated varieties of animals. Yet if we compare a cabbage rose with
a wild rose, a golden pippin apple with a crab, a toy terrier with any
species of wild dog, not to mention any number of other instances, there
can be no question that, if such differences had appeared in nature, the
organisms presenting them would have been entitled to rank as distinct
species--or even, in many cases, as distinct genera. Yet we know, as a
matter of fact, that all these differences have been produced by a
process of artificial selection, or pairing, which has been continuously
practised by horticulturists and breeders through a number of
generations. It is the business of these men to note the individual
organisms which show most variation in the directions required, and then
to propagate from these individuals, in order that the progeny shall
inherit the qualities desired. The results thus become cumulative from
generation to generation, until we now have an astonishing manifestation
of useful qualities on the one hand, and of beautiful qualities on the
other, according as the organisms have been thus bred for purposes of
use or for those of beauty.

Now it is immediately obvious that in these cases the process of
artificial selection is precisely analogous to that of natural selection
(and of sexual selection which will be considered later on), in all
respects save one: the utility or the beauty which it is the aim of
artificial selection continually to enhance, is utility or beauty in
relation to the requirements or to the tastes of man; whereas the
utility or the beauty which is produced by natural s