Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/151

 to see how farmers were able to make their practice agree with their theories. Nature herself seems to have no special aversion to the practice. The wild bull keeps possession of his own glen and his own herd till he is ousted perhaps by some stranger from across the hills, but more likely by his biggest brother or his eldest son who so far has been kept at a distance by the fear of his parent's horns. According to some authors the evils of in-breeding are almost innumerable: barrenness, lack of size, milk, constitution, hair, and so on; tuberculosis, rheumatism, leanness, fatness, long legs, short legs, brainlessness, and every other form of retrogression. Families and tribes that once had the highest reputation are now no more, nearly extinct, or relegated to an inferior position. But would the type that was best half a century ago be the best to-day? Have not some that formerly were less regarded now found favour? Besides when a tribe or type gets into a prominent position, and its individual members rise in money value and so get into the hands of wealthier men but poorer judges, who is to see to their proper mating, and the elimination of such animals as are below the standard? And when animals whose money value is large get into the possession through inheritance or otherwise, of poorer men but better judges, how are these men to determine whether their purse or their taste is