THE FOUNDATIONS OF ZOOLOGY 



That the price of horses is, on the whole, fixed like that of other 

 commodities, is obvious, and it is also clear that the type may be 

 changed by events which have no relation to inheritance, such as 

 the application of electricity to street cars. 



A change of this sort, such as took place when steam replaced 

 stage coaches, is a " sport " or sudden and fundamental change of 

 type, but this may also be changed by slight and gradual modifica- 

 tion with the slow growth of a complicated civilization and an 

 increased demand for horses. 



As inheritance has an influence on the price of horses, what will 

 be the result if we destroy the children of all horses which fetch less 

 than +2 of Galton's scheme, and breed from only that fourth of the 

 whole which sell for more than 75 per cent of his centesimal scale ? 



We may, at first, get fancy prices for our expensive stock, but 

 if selection cease with this first step, and we supply as many colts 

 as before, the price will "revert" to the type, and the mean will 

 become the same as it was. 



Does this prove that those qualities in horses for which money 

 is paid have " retrograded to mediocrity " in these descendants of 

 high-priced horses ? It proves nothing of the sort, for the qualities 

 which command a price are one thing, and the price another. Even 

 if the horses have much more of these qualities than the old stock, 

 the price will still be fixed by the ratio between demand and 

 supply, and while blood will tell in use, it will not tell in price. 



It is clear, then, that characteristics of living things which are 

 influenced by inheritance may conform to a type which exhibits 

 "specific stability," "regression to mediocrity," an occasional 

 " sport," and all the other properties of the types which Galton has 

 studied, without furnishing proof that " inherited " qualities behave 

 in the same way. To prove this, we must cancel, or neutralize, 

 or make allowance for, all the factors which have an influence upon 

 the type, except "inheritance." 



Galton's generalizations upon the laws of inheritance from the 

 statistical study of finger prints rest upon the belief that the 

 patterns are inherited. If they are not, they can teach nothing 

 of inheritance, when considered in themselves, without farther 

 analysis. He proves that they are, to some degree, dependent, 

 either directly or indirectly, upon inheritance, just as the price of 



