Chap. XXI. CARRIED TO AN EXTREME. 239 



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 especially 

 of reversion, all highly improved races, if neglected or not sub- 

 jected to incessant selection, soon degenerate. Youatt gives a 

 curious instance of this in some cattle formerly kept in Glamor- 

 ganshire ; 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, when- 

 " ever there has been neglect, the breed has proportionally dete- 

 riorated." 54 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 gene- 

 rations 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 have 

 attempted to show in the fourteenth chapter that this belief 

 apparently resolves itself into the following proposition, namely, 

 that all characters whatever, whether recently acquired or an- 

 cient, tend to be transmitted, but that those which have already 

 long withstood all counteracting influences, will, as a general 

 rule, continue to withstand them, and consequently be faithfully 

 transmitted. 



Tendency in Man to carry the practice of Selection to an extreme 



point. 



It is an important principle that in the process of selection 

 man almost invariably wishes to go to an extreme point. Thus, 

 in usual qualities, there is no limit to his desire to breed certain 



« < The Veterinary,' vol. xiii. p. 720. For the Glamorganshire cattle, see Youatt 

 on Cattle, p. 51. 



