| The problem of the origin of domestic animals and plants, and the means by which they were produced along human history, were of deep interest to Charles Darwin who considered domestic breeding one grand experiment in evolution. In frst place, he elaborated an analogy between artifcial selection, by which breeders obtained desired characters in domestic species, and natural selection, the powerful force driving evolution in nature. At the same time, Darwin distinguished two processes within artifcial selection: methodical and unconscious selection. He attached great importance to the latter since it could produce gradual unexpected changes in association with those characters that were consciously selected for. Although the analogy natural/artifcial... |
