WHAT EVOLUTION IS 167 



fact, but nevertheless true, that in the 

 estimation of character or in the for- 

 mation of friendships we are more 

 Hkely to be influenced by social than 

 by germinal inheritances. The color 

 of the hair or the color of the eye is 

 under such circumstances of less im- 

 portance to us than the speech or table- 

 manners. Thus human inheritance 

 and in consequence human evolution 

 extend over a wider field than the 

 corresponding operations in lower an- 

 imals and man's uniqueness again re- 

 asserts itself. 



But though we are in this respect 

 above the rest of creation, we are still 

 subject to the common law. Not an 

 epidemic sweeps through a commu- 

 nity without leaving behind it, in the 

 young members of the population, a 

 selected race whose partial immunity 

 will have its effect on the coming gen- 

 eration. This is especially noticeable 



