478 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the race by improving the environment and we know that effects of an 

 improved environment are not inherited, how have we left the euthen- 

 ist a leg to stand upon? The question seems to be one too simple to 

 need discussion. But it is not so simple. Even granting the non-in- 

 heritance of acquired characters, the proper place of environment in a 

 eugenic program is not a simple question. In the first place, it is very 

 difficult to separate out those characters which are the results of inborn 

 determinants (inherited) from those which are produced solely by re- 

 action to environment. Or it may be, as is probably usually the case, 

 that both influences are at work in the expression of the same char- 

 acter. Size may be cited as an example. Undoubtedly a child inherits 

 the tendency to acquire a particular size; but whether it fails to reach 

 this size or exceeds it, is in large part dependent on environmental fac- 

 tors which influence growth, such as food-supply, fresh air, exercise and 

 undoubtedly many others. 



But it may be, and has been, asked, granting in full the part played 

 by heredity, is it not possible that a permanent environment may be 

 created of such a nature that the outcome will be the same whatever 

 the hereditary nature of the individual ? Undoubtedly such may be true 

 in certain restricted cases. For example, if a mosquitoless environment 

 could be established and maintained, what would it matter whether we, 

 individually possessed or lacked a natural (inherited) susceptibility to 

 malaria and yellow fever? It is also possible that as the skill of the 

 surgeon and the ingenuity of the bacteriologist increase, we shall be 

 able by means of the injection of antitoxin and the removal or re- 

 placement of organs to disregard the inheritance of many diatheses and 

 bodily imperfections. This would require, however, the maintenance 

 of a highly "artificial" environment, and the resulting picture is not 

 one which appeals to us as our ideal type of mankind. It will require 

 much further study to teach us in how far such a condition of affairs 

 may be desirable, and only the future can show how much it may be 

 a necessary result of the multifarious interacting forces of evolution. 



Moreover, the cases of this nature must be relatively few — in the 

 great majority, as has just been pointed out, the environment can act 

 only when the necessary hereditary basis is present. We should pre- 

 dict poor success to the stockman who depended entirely upon feeding 

 and care to produce the maximum of marketable beef, or the dairyman 

 who by these means alone expected to compete with herds of selected 

 animals in the production of milk. 



Inherent quality is what determines the value of a gem; grinding 

 and polishing only serve to bring out its luster and brilliance, and no 

 amount of labor expended by the lapidary can convert a piece of quartz 

 into a diamond. Selection of specimens which have the inherent qual- 

 ities is the essential. The breeder knows this, and he realizes the im- 



