18G THE ANGORA GOAT. 
attempt to improve the breed will be a very tedious 
and difficult undertaking. 
The question of in-and-in breeding is one which has 
caused great discussion amongst breeders of stock. 
The subject is beyond the scope of this paper, but has 
been very fully treated in Darwin's very valuable work, 
entitled, " Animals and Plants under Domestication." 
I would not here be understood as endorsing Mr. 
Darwin's deductions and conclusions in every instance. 
He is, however, entitled to the highest honour for the 
amount of labour he has expended in the collection of 
facts bearing upon the subject of which he treats. As 
Professor Tyndall well remarks, in one of his latest 
lectures, "A very high value should be attached to 
ideas which spring from the patient and profound 
thought of superior minds, and not mere guesses with- 
out the warrant of careful study or natural capacity." 
Darwin's conclusions on the subject are, "that the 
consequences of close inter-breeding carried on for 
too long a time, are, as it is generally believed, 
loss of size constitutional vigour and fertility, some- 
times accompanied by a tendency to malformation. 
It should however be clearly understood, that the 
advantage of close interbreeding as far as the retention 
of character is concerned, is indisputable, and often 
outweighs the evil of a slight loss of constitutional 
vigour. Manifest evil does not usually follow from 
pairing the nearest relations for one, two, three, or even 
four generations. It is a great law that all organic 
beings profit from an occasional cross with individuals 
not closely related to them in blood, and that on the 
other hand, long continued close interbreeding is 
injurious. The opinion of Mr. Bates, a celebrated 
