SUM 10 MATT 10 US OF GENERAL HYGIENE 217 



Similarly, he may assume that scholarly achievements of 

 his own will make similar attainments easier for his 

 children. 



When a man holding views like these first hears that 

 scientists generally deny "the inheritance of acquired 

 characters" he is likely to feel that his moral responsibil- 

 ity has been gravely impaired. The immediate impression 

 is that conduct is without significance in heredity, and that 

 a very strong and noble motive for self-restraint has been 

 abolished. Reflection will convince one that such im- 

 pressions are not wholly warranted. One's obligations are 

 scarcely impaired. 



In the first place, there are at least two consequences of 

 transgression which are still believed to pass on from father 

 to son. Syphilis is one of these. The other is the complex 

 of effects induced by alcoholism. Therefore, deterrents 

 from the two commonest forms of intemperance remain 

 in full force. Gonorrhea is not strictly inherited, but the 

 peril of infection at birth and the inclusion of the wife in 

 the calamity leave every possible ground for continence 

 unshaken. 



It may now be pointed out that in matters less specific 

 than these the individual may still have reason to consider 

 carefully what manner of life he has led when he con- 

 templates parenthood. His acts may not have modified 

 the stock, but we now regard them as illustrating its 

 properties. These properties are regarded as having 

 great stability. The son resembles the father not because 

 of certain acts which the father performed, but because 

 the inheritance common to both makes them likely to behave 

 in a similar way under similar circumstances. Some one 

 has expressed the fact picturesquely by saying that "the 

 son is not a chip of the old block, but father and son are 

 both chips of the same old block"- -the immemorial 

 ancestry which they share. 



This being the case, a man reviewing his career and hav- 

 ing in mind the probable future of his children may reason 

 somewhat as follows: "My indulgences and my denials 



