410 THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE CHAP, xx 



peculiarities (except sterility of course), not only to the 

 third and fourth generation, but far further. Sometimes 

 it is a trivial feature like a shock of white hair ; sometimes 

 it is a deadly vice of blood ; sometimes it is all bodily, 

 leaving the spirit unblemished, as in certain cripples ; 

 sometimes it is a blot on the brain that affects the char- 

 acter now in this way and again in that, but always 

 perniciously. There is no gainsaying the fatalistic im- 

 pression that the study of heredity forces upon us, and 

 since heredity is the relation of organic or genetic con- 

 tinuity between successive generations, there can be no 

 other side to it. Yet our phrase " The Other Side of 

 Heredity ' may usefully serve to indicate that there is 

 another side to the inevitable reappearance of an evil 

 past in the present, another side to the inexorable trans- 

 mission of defects and weakness, another side to the 

 lien that ancestry has over us. 



It should be remembered (1) that the hereditary 

 relation secures the entailment of all manner of whole- 

 some human qualities ; (2) that there is continual varia- 

 bility or creativeness which affords new raw material 

 for progress ; (3) that the quality of the nurture (largely 

 in our hands) determines the degree to which the buds of 

 good qualities in our inheritance may be made to unfold, 

 and the buds of bad qualities may be kept more or less 

 dormant ; (4) that there is an undeniable moulding power 

 in changes of function and environment, and though 

 the resulting modifications do not seem to be transmis- 

 sible as such, they can be reimpressed, if desirable, on 

 each successive generation ; and (5) that in our social 

 heritage, which is as supreme as our natural inheritance 

 is fundamental, there are ever-widening opportunities 

 for transcending the trammels of protoplasm. Where- 

 fore, Siirsuin corda lift up your hearts ! 



