128 FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION, 



twice lost, seems to give to each grandparent one fourth 

 the potency in heredity the father or mother has. In 

 the same way to the great grandparent we must assign 

 the relation of i-j^ per cent (one sixty-fourth), and 

 so on. 



The "bluer" the blood — that is, the more closely 

 alike these ancestors are — the greater will be the com- 

 mon factor, the less the amount derived 

 e o oug - fj-om the individual. In perfect thor- 

 oughbreedings the individual should 

 have no peculiarities at all. This condition is never 

 reached, but it may sometimes be approximated. In such 

 case the addition of an ancestral sixteenth or sixty fourth 

 could make no visible change. This may be true among 

 the very bad as well as among the very good. Weak- 

 ness or badness are more often thoroughbred than 

 strength or virtue. The bluest of blood may run in the 

 veins of the pauper as well as in the aristocrat who 



W 



boasts that -—z in his formula stands for 



2i47473648«± 



William the Norman. And for Richard Roe's own sake 

 let us hope that he is not too thoroughbred, and that he 

 has no record of W and W"', nor even of E. Too nar- 

 row a line of descent tends to intensify weaknesses. 

 Vigour and originality come from the mingling of vari- 

 ant elements. Nature does not favour " in-and-in breed- 

 ing." There is no loss to the individual if decided and 

 different qualities come from father or mother. Con- 

 tradictory or even incongruous peculiarities are better 

 than none at all. 



Ancestry, too, like wine, becomes stale if it remains 

 too long in the sunshine. An ancestry which is readily 

 traced has lived too long in easy places. A few genera- 

 tions of successful dealing with small matters may pre- 

 pare the way for the power to deal with great ones. 



