go ANALYSIS AND CRITICISM 



persistence of mental traits. Thus, referring to 'the French race', he 

 writes: 'There is in every mind of the kind a fundamental activity 

 which, when incessantly repeated, moulds its plan, and gives it its 

 direction. . . .'^'^ This is bolstered by the usual botanical analogy 

 ('as in a tree the structure of the first shoot determines the whole 

 foliage, and governs the whole growth'), and a footnote declares: 

 'The idea of types is applicable throughout all physical and moral 

 nature\^^ the implication being that mental traits are inherited in 

 the same degree as physical traits. This is an issue which is far from 

 having been settled yet; if there is some degree of temperamental 

 heredity, its mechanics are only imperfectly understood. ^^ 



Geography: Land and JVation 



Lacking a clear notion of the mechanics of heredity, Taine often 

 tends to blend Race with milieu (especially in its physical aspects 

 of geography, soil, and climate) and ultimately with Nation. 

 That these Romantic notions of the intimate relations between 

 Man and Land and Nation were so grossly caricatured in the 

 Nazi 'Blut und Boden' slogans should not blind us to the element 

 of truth which they contain. Julian Huxley begins a recent essay 

 entitled 'Chmate and Human History' as follows: 'Man's thought 

 and social hfe are built on his economic Kfe; but this, in its turn, 

 rests on biological foundations. '20 He summarizes a great deal of 

 evidence for the influence of climate on history, and hence in- 

 directly on art, though his tracing of the rise and fall of entire 

 civihzations primarily to changes in climate and his claim that 

 'Climate is inexorable\^^ seem somewhat exaggerated. Probably 

 Toynbee's formula of 'challenge' and 'response' is more accurate: 

 climate is one of the challenges which help mould a people. 22 



On the whole, Taine uses the Land motif skilfully and with 

 some degree of flexibility. The History of English Literature begins 

 with a description of the geographic and climatic conditions of 

 the Saxons; and the presumed continuity of EngHsh traits which 

 constitutes the English 'race' is attributed to both 'descent and 

 chmate'. 23 As in his treatment of Itahan art, so in his study of 

 EngHsh literature Taine's method was to accompany perusal of 

 'documents' with much first-hand observation of the English 

 people in their native 'habitat', to use the biological term. 

 One fruit of his trips to England was a volume of Notes on England, 

 which should be read in conjunction with the more famous 

 History. 



