BOTANICAL STUDY AND HISTORY. 241
can only survive if they obey two natural laws ; that which in-
cites them "to perpetuate their kind," and that which "induces
"them to preserve individuals." The wheat known as Einkorn or
Locular, and the "wild" form of the wheat Prof. Percival terms
Emmer, are equally well equipped to comply with the first
law. Their grains are borne on a fragile rachis ; each grain is
tightly invested by its glumes. The fragments of the disarticu-
lated rachis become so dispersed that some of the grains may
escape the attention of interested and observant ants and birds
and mice ; the glumes protect the uneaten grains against the
weather till the season of sprouting arrives. Increase in the
size of the grain, such as took place in the Locular, is a doubtful
adventure : it fulfils the second law by laying up more food for
the embryo-plant ; it infringes the first law by making the grain
more noticeable to interested and observant enemies.
Obedience to the second law led early man to share the interest
in wheat taken by many active competitors, endowed with
senses more acute than his own : as a result, man had "to eat his
bread in the sweat of his face." But if man's capacity to per-
ceive were inferior to that of his many rivals, his ability to reflect
was superior to theirs : anticipating the method attributed by
Mr. Carroll to the Walrus in "Alice," early man laid the foun-
dation of the art of seed-selection : when putting aside part of
his harvested seeds of the Einkorn for sowing, "he sorted out
"those of the largest size." But with all the wheats other than
the Locular man extended his attention to matters other than
mere size of grain. He reduced the wastage experienced when
saving his crop, by selecting seed-grain from sorts which tended
to toughen their rachis : he lessened his labour costs when thresh-
ing his wheat, by selecting seed-grain from sorts which tended
to loosen their chaff.
The various "cultivated races," other than T. orientale, the
Khorasan Wheat, which have 14 chromosomes, though of great
botanical interest, have contributed less to historical knowledge
than the Emmers to which they are closely related, and of which
they are believed to be derivates. They are characteristic crops
of the Mediterranean region, though one of them, T. durum or
Macaroni Wheat, extends to India ; another, T. turgidum or Rivet
Wheat, extends to Siberia ; a third, T. polonicum, which, in spite
of its name, has no special connection with Poland, extends to