l8o THE HISTOEY OF CEEATION. 



When this exceedingly important and undeniable fact is 

 mentioned, it generally causes great offence, and yet in 

 reality it is silently and universally acknowledged. For 

 upon what else do the ideas of " hereditary sin," " hereditary 

 wisdom," and " hereditary aristocracy," etc., rest than upon 

 the conviction that the quality of the human mind is trans- 

 mitted by propagation — that is, by a purely material pro- 

 cess — through the body, from the parents to the descendants? 

 The recognition of this great importance of transmission by 

 inheritance is shown in a number of human institutions, as 

 for example, among many nations in the division into castes, 

 such as the castes of warriors, castes of priests, and castes of 

 labourers, etc. It is evident that the institution of such 

 castes originally arose from the notion of the great import- 

 ance of hereditary distinctions possessed by certain families, 

 which it was presumed would always be transmitted 

 by the parents to the children. The institution of an 

 hereditary aristocracy and an hereditary monarchy is 

 to be traced to the notion of such a transmission of special 

 excellencies. However, it is unfortunately not only virtues, 

 but also vices that are transmitted and accumulated by 

 inheritance ; and if, in the history of the world, we compare 

 the different individuals of the different dynasties, we shall 

 everywhere find a great number of proofs of the transmission 

 of qualities by iidieritance, but fewer of transmissions of 

 virtues than of vices. Look only, for example, at the Roman 

 emperors, at the Julii and the Claudii, or at the Bourbons in 

 France, Spain, and Italy ! 



In fact, scarcely anywhere could we find such a number 

 of striking examples of the remarkable transmission of 

 bodily and mental features by inheritance, as in the history 



