NATURAL BREEDING. 123 



nity to improve on them is to prove false to a 

 high trust. 



It needs no argument to convince any mat- 

 ter-of-fact man who has no preconceived hostile 

 views that the way to obtain the best results is 

 to seek, wherever they are to be found, the best 

 individual animals. Were this not so then the 

 whole idea embraced in the great law that like 

 produces like would be a delusion. Nor is 

 there any other method to be derived from that 

 law. 



There is nothing in this view at all antag- 

 onistic to the theory which maintains the 

 advantage of in-and-in breeding under excep- 

 tional circumstances. If such a proceeding be 

 demanded in order to fix a specially desirable 

 quality this method of breeding would favor 

 it. It advocates the choice of the best to be 

 had. If these "best" are few they must be in- 

 and-in bred till they are numerous enough 

 to allow wider latitude. It does, indeed, hold 

 that, in-and-in breeding being apparently con- 

 trary to the laws of physiology and injurious 

 to the produce of animals so in-and-in bred, 

 Should never be indulged in except with the 

 utmost caution, and never persisted in one 

 moment longer than demanded by the special 

 conditions of each case. Just as some poisons 

 of the deadliest nature may be taken with im- 

 punity when administered in small quantities 



