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 17% 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- 
moni factor, the less the amount derived 
from 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 
WwW 2 . 
boasts that —————————__ in his formula stands for 
21474736482 + 
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. 
The thorough- 
bred. 
