But man can and does select the variations given to him by nature, and thus accumulates them in any desired manner.

He thus adapts animals and plants for his own benefit or pleasure.

He may do this methodically, or he may do it unconsciously by preserving the individuals most useful or pleasing to him without any intention of altering the breed.

It is certain that he can largely influence the character of a breed by selecting, in each successive generation, individual differences so slight as to be inappreciable except by an educated eye.