104 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



maelstrom into which have been attracted all the detrimental in- 

 fluences that have accidentally or intentionally come within reach. 

 For instance, such persons are almost always predetermined to grow 

 up into harmful bodily and mental habits. Says Peterson : " Among 

 all degenerates there is a taste or appetite for certain foods or drugs 

 which tend to favor their dissolution (alcohol, morphine, cocaine, 

 and the like " (State Hospitals Bulletin, vol. i, p. 372). So also are 

 they apt to be wrongly educated, or to draw around them harmful 

 associates; to develop the most wearying and exhausting enthusiasms, 

 or to choose a business and place of residence to which they are not 

 adapted; to marry some one who will chiefly wear and burden them; 

 to assume responsibilities and positions out of keeping with their 

 native strength and endurance; in fact, to get entangled in all the 

 affairs of life in just the very way calculated to bring about the one 

 thing which should have been, by every known means, sought to be 

 avoided. It is in this way that " physiological fate " unconsciously 

 spins the web which ultimately fastens its own doom. That such a 

 pernicious course should eventually result in disaster is no wonder at 

 all; for when investigated deeply and comprehensively enough, it is 

 seen that of all possible persons, such are, by birth, the very least cal- 

 culated to endure the wear and tear thus engendered and main- 

 tained ; while, as scarcely a word is ever heard and scarcely an effort 

 is ever made as to the necessity for so training and educating and in- 

 spiring these people that the defects of heredity will be remedied, it 

 follows that the most ordinary ventures of commonplace life are by 

 far more dangerous to them than to their better-endowed fellows.* 

 When properly endowed by heredity, and adequately bred and edu- 

 cated, it is almost beyond wonder, the amount and character of per- 

 sistent stress which human nature can triumphantly endure. When 

 otherwise, however, it is no wonder at all that sooner or later serious 

 breakdown comes to pass. 



The importance of saying this is obvious when we consider that 

 as a rule active life is allowed to be entered upon without adequate 

 preparation and intelligent adaptation of either bodily or mental 

 strength to the stress that is likely to be encountered. Always it is 

 asked, if anything is asked at all, " Has he the skill to make his way? " 

 instead of, " Has he the prospective endurance required by what 

 he purposes undertaking? " while, if the latter chances to be con- 

 sidered at all, the conclusion is most usually based upon present ap- 

 pearances rather than upon past tendencies or actual developments. 

 Elsewhere I have said : " In almost every instance (of breakdown) I 



* " It is perfectly certain that two in every three children are irretrievably damaged or 

 hindered in their mental and moral development in the schools ; but I am not sure that they 

 would fare better if they stayed at home." — Baldwin, in Mental Development, p. 38. 



