37° POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The vexing question of determining in any way the proportionate 

 average influence taken by the three possible causes in the determina- 

 tion of human faculties and character can probably only be solved 

 when we possess, on the one hand, a knowledge of the circumstances 

 in which the individuals lived, and, on the other, a complete knowledge 

 of the characteristics of their ancestors and family to a reasonable 

 degree of remoteness. 



In many instances psychologists, historians and philosophers have 

 observed the evident relationship between the lives and actions of men 

 and the environment in which they lived. Even as early as Aristotle 

 the characteristics of the Greeks were noted as midway between the 

 Chinese and the Egyptians, and their different relations to the climate, 

 geography, etc., were observed and reasoned upon. One of the most 

 famous of recent names in this connection is that of Buckle, who 

 attempted to reduce history to a science, and explain the actions of 

 men according to natural laws. To his mind, food, climate, volcanoes 

 and other external causes played an important part. Against Buckle 

 stood Carlyle and many others who considered it degrading to attempt 

 to reduce human action to mechanics; for them the great soul or 'hero' 

 was the all-important element, and history was to be considered largely 

 as a set of biographies of great men. Mohammed, Luther and the 

 great kings could not be explained as a product of the times. With 

 Carlyle must always stand the theologians who dwell upon the great- 

 ness of the human will and the divinity of the spiritual side of man, 

 which is supposed to raise him above his trials and make him the true 

 lord of creation. 



In more recent years an attempt has been made to show that 

 heredity is very important in producing those geniuses whose influ- 

 ence is so paramount in molding the lives of others. Galton and de 

 Candolle have met with much success in this line. Thus the three 

 factors have all had their supporters — heredity, environment and 

 free-will — some would give preponderance to one and some to another, 

 and no one knows which is the most important or influential. 



Now, thanks to the researches of Galton, Pearson and others, the 

 proportionate amount of hereditary influence from each parent, and 

 from each more remote ancestor is known with considerable approxi- 

 mation, except as regards certain peculiar types; as when for instance 

 the maternal and paternal stocks differ very much from each other, or 

 for some other reason we have prepotency, as in the case of albino 

 animals, or perhaps when new varieties make their appearance we 

 seem to have errors from the expected. 



Still the law may be considered virtually true when we deal with 

 large averages, and thus by knowing what we ought to expect from 

 heredity alone, we may take a large number of verified individuals 



