SPECULATIONS 139 



to see how farmers were able to make their 

 practice agree with their theories. Nature her- 

 self seems to have no special aversion to the 

 practice. The wild bull keeps possession of his 

 own oflen and his own herd till he is ousted 

 perhaps by some stranger from across the hills, 

 but more likely by his biggest brother or his 

 eldest son who so far has been kept at a distance 

 by the fear of his parent's horns. According 

 to some authors the evils of in-breeding are 

 almost innumerable : barrenness, lack of size, 

 milk, constitution, hair, and so on ; tuberculosis, 

 rheumatism, leanness, fatness, long legs, short 

 legs, brainlessness, and every other form of retro- 

 gression. Families and tribes that once had the 

 highest reputation are now no more, nearly 

 extinct, or relegated to an inferior position. But 

 would the type that was best half a century ago 

 be the best to-day ? Have not some that formerly 

 were less regarded now found favour ? Besides 

 when a tribe or type gets into a prominent 

 position, and its individual members rise in money 

 value and so get into the hands of wealthier men 

 but poorer judges, who is to see to their proper 

 mating, and the elimination of such animals as 

 are below the standard ? And when animals 

 whose money value is large get into the posses- 

 sion through inheritance or otherwise, of poorer 

 men but better judges, how are these men to 

 determine whether their purse or their taste is 



