EVOLUTION 127 



fact. Improvement of this kind through a 

 favorable environment, educational or other- 

 wise, can transform a being whose hereditary 

 outlook is poor into one whose service to so- 

 ciety may be great, for a new discovery, a sub- 

 lime idea, or even a kind act has its place in 

 the evolution of man as much as a hereditary 

 trait. One comes to us by social inheritance, 

 the other by organic. These two processes, 

 the one depending upon the nervous system, 

 the other upon the reproductive mechanism, 

 though treated more or less separately in these 

 lectures, are in reality inextricably interwoven 

 in our natures. For a right understanding and 

 control of our social acts, it is necessary to 

 know the extent to which each factor underlies 

 them. This determined, the organic constitu- 

 ent may be modified, improved, or otherwise 

 controlled through the principles of genetics 

 as applied to the reproductive processes, and 

 the social constituent may similarly be dealt 

 with through environmental changes, train- 

 ing, and education in their broadest sense. 

 These two factors thus mutually interrelated 

 are the fundamental biological elements that 

 underlie our social structure. 



In dealing with these elements in the present 



