364 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



effects of use and disuse were not inheritable, tow little would 

 such knowledge immediately affect the enacting of laws, the mak- 

 ing of marriages, the teaching of morality, the giving of alms! 

 Between old ideas and action the connection is strong ; between 

 new ideas and action the connection is weak. 



There are two truths, forming part of the inoperative knowl- 

 edge of the educational world, to which I would here call atten- 

 tion. The first is, that the children of civilized persons possess in 

 a marked degree the characteristics of savages ; the second, that as 

 human beings grow old they lose mental, moral, and physical 

 plasticity. And when we consider the facts that children possess 

 much of the nature of savages, that savage natures prompt savage 

 acts, that the frequent performance of savage acts tends to pro- 

 duce savage habits, and that age tends to fix habits by producing 

 rigidity, the difficulty and the need of forming social characters 

 in those of plastic age become apparent. How to supplant savage 

 instincts by social instincts how to produce moral natures is 

 the problem which educators of all kinds are called upon to solve. 

 I do not mean to imply that educators can produce moral natures 

 in the sense of manufacturing them, but that they can assist their 

 growth. By imparting ethical knowledge to the young we may 

 realize moral minds, but unfortunately moral minds do not neces- 

 sitate moral natures. Civilized minds may coexist with savage 

 natures. As the value of any knowledge is in proportion to its 

 beneficial effect on conduct, the knowledge of what constitutes 

 good conduct is certainly of much value, and ethics deserves a 

 more prominent place in our schools than it now occupies. But 

 the doing of what is good does not necessarily follow the know- 

 ing of what is good. Good deeds depend much more on the pos- 

 session of social natures than on the possession of minds stored 

 with ethical knowledge. 



The obligation which children are under of obeying parents 

 lapses when they become self-supporting. The obligation to con- 

 form to certain social laws never lapses. These laws are binding 

 on adults and children alike. The obligation which pupils are 

 under of observing the rules of the schools which they attend 

 also lapses when school days are over. Obedience to parents 

 and teachers is temporary; obedience to social laws is perma- 

 nent. Yet disobedience to parents and teachers as such often 

 meets with much severer punishment than infraction of a social 

 law! Nay, even worse than this is true; infractions of social 

 law are countenanced where needless college rules are strictly 

 enforced. 



When on a crowded sidewalk two pedestrians accidentally 

 jostle each other, there usually follow mutual apologies. " The 

 right of personal integrity," which Spencer deduces as a corollary 



