6 CONWAY ZIRKLE 



But what more could be asked for, by the most 

 Depraved? Think of the many sacred ties 

 And loved names, you are dragging to the mire; 

 The rival of your mother, will you be 

 The mistress of your father, and be named 

 The sister of your son, and make yourself 

 The mother of your brother? 



In Stating the other side of the case Myrrha describes the "natural" in- 

 breeding of animals. 



A crime so great — If it indeed is crime. 



I am not sure it is — I have not heard 



That any God or written law condemns 



The union of a parent and his child. 



All animals will mate as they desire — 



A heifer may endure her sire, and who 



Condemns it? And the happy stud is not 



Refused by his mare-daughters: the he-goat 



Consorts unthought-of with the flock of which 



He is the father; and the birds conceive 



Of those from whom they were themselves begot. 



Happy are they who have such privilege! 



Malignant men have given spiteful laws; 



And what is right to Nature is decreed 



Unnatural, by jealous laws of men. 



But it is said there are some tribes today. 

 In which the mother marries her own son; 

 The daughter takes her father; and by this, 

 The love kind nature gives them is increased 

 Into a double bond. — Ah wretched me! 



The debate ends as we would expect, and in due course Myrrha is de- 

 livered of an infant boy who certainly showed none of the ill effects of the in- 

 breeding which produced him. He grew up to be quite an Adonis. In fact 

 he was Adonis. 



We can profitably skip to the late eighteenth century before we pursue 

 further the matter of inbreeding. This was the period when Bakewell was 

 emphasizing the importance of breeding in improving farm animals, when 

 the various purebreds were beginning to emerge, and when the efficacy of 

 artificial selection was beginning to be understood. 



By the beginning of the nineteenth century, practical attempts to im- 

 prove the different breeds of cattle led to intensive inbreeding. A prize bull 

 would be bred to his own daughters and granddaughters. At first, the breed- 

 ers seemed to believe that a selection of the very best individuals followed 

 by intensive inbreeding was the quickest method for improving the stock. 

 On theoretical grounds this seemed to be the case, and great advances 

 were actually made by this method — but sooner or later something always 



