Chap. XXI. CARRIED TO AN EXTREME. 225 



prizes given for highly improved breeds, in comparison with 

 those given for old breeds which are not now undergoing 

 rapid improvement, have been fully justified. Nathusius 

 makes 56 a similar remark when discussing the less uniform 

 character of improved Shorthorn cattle and of the English 

 horse, in comparison, for example, with the unennobled cattle 

 of Hungary, or with the horses of the Asiatic steppes. This 

 want of uniformity in the parts which at the time are under- 

 going selection chiefly depends on the strength of the prin- 

 ciple of reversion ; but it likewise depends to a certain 

 extent on the continued variability of the parts which have 

 recently varied. That the same parts do continue varying 

 in the same manner we must admit, for if it were not so, 

 there could be no improvement beyond an early standard of 

 excellence, and we know that such improvement is not only 

 possible, but is of general occurrence. 



As a consequence of continued variability, and more espe- 

 cially of reversion, all highly improved races, if neglected or 

 not subjected to incessant selection, soon degenerate. Youatt 

 gives a curious instance of this in some cattle formerly kept 

 in Glamorganshire ; but in this case the cattle were not fed 

 with sufficient care. Mr. Baker, in his memoir on the Horse, 

 sums up : " It must have been observed in the preceding 

 " pages that, whenever there has been neglect, the breed has 

 " proportionally deteriorated." 57 If a considerable number 

 of improved cattle, sheep, or other animals of the same race, 

 were allowed to breed freely together, with no selection, but 

 with no change in their condition of life, there can be no 

 doubt that after a score or hundred generations they would 

 be very far from excellent of their kind ; but, from what we 

 see of the many common races of dogs, cattle, fowls, pigeons, 

 &c, which without any particular care have long retained 

 nearly the same character, we have no grounds for believing 

 that they would altogether depart from their type. 



It is a general belief amongst breeders that characters of 

 all kinds become fixed by long-continued inheritance. But I 



56 ' Ueber Shorthorn Rindvieh,' 720. For the Glamorganshire cattle, 

 1857, s. 51. see Youatt on Cattle, p. 51 



57 ' The Veterinary,' vol. xiii. p. 



VOL. II. Q 



