FATALISM OR FREEDOM 



old age? Lachesis casts the lot in ac- 

 cordance with which the thread of this 

 one life is woven with other threads into 

 the warp supplied by the world about. 

 The course of my life is thus inextricably 

 interwoven with the courses of other lives 

 and all must adjust to the world in which 

 our lots are cast. What part does 

 Atropos, the inevitable, play in this ad- 

 justment? 



The final pattern of this fabric is my 

 life as it is lived in its environment. It 

 is open to inspection, from the outside by 

 my neighbors, from the inside by myself. 

 The former appraisement is my reputa- 

 tion; the latter is my self-consciousness, 

 self-esteem, and self-determination. How 

 is this pattern woven? Is it wholly a nat- 

 ural process or only partly so? This is 

 the riddle of human life. Can natural 

 science lead the way to the oracle and 

 interpret her cryptic utterances? 



Heredity and environment are every- 

 where recognized as in control of hu- 

 man destiny, and in most of the recent 

 discussions these are played up as the 

 agencies through which alone the hope 

 of further advance in personal and social 

 welfare may be reahzed. Without belit- 



[12] 



