VII 



THE ORGANIC TENDENCY 



According to the available facts of biology there 

 are no organic characters of evolutionary signifi- 

 cance which may be called the product of heritage 

 or of environment exclusively. The vast majority 

 of characters may be interpreted as the result of 

 distinctive hereditary substance responding to dis- 

 tinctive environmental conditions. The idea that 

 the individual inherits an adequate environment 

 as well as the organic foundations for its develop- 

 ment is partly true; the activities of its parents 

 certainly tend to produce it under favorable con- 

 ditions in every group of organisms, and among 

 the animals which exercise some degree of parental 

 care this guaranty is extended more or less into 

 the otherwise independent life of the young. It is 

 difiicult to determine the extent to which we are 

 justified in considering these facts, or obliged to 

 consider them, as factors in evolution. We cannot 

 avoid the conviction that in our own lives parental 

 care and the favorable environment provided by 

 our social organization are potent forces in the fu- 

 ture of mankind. They must, therefore, be consid- 

 ered in the broader aspects of evolution, although 



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