192 Kansas Academy of Science. 



some form, no matter what process of training the individual 

 is called upon the undergo." Another says: "Every man is 

 the outcome and product of his ancestry; this is true not only 

 of the broad fundamental characteristics by which he is ani- 

 mal, by which he is human, by which he is natural, by which 

 he betrays the country and family from which he proceeds, 

 but extends to the trivial and minutely trivial characteristics 

 by which he is distinguished from other individuals of his own 

 race, country and family." Do we not find physical and men- 

 tal peculiarities strongly manifested in very young children, 

 even at an age when environment could not have produced 

 any material effects upon them, and does not this suggest that 

 they were inborn? If environments are the same, children 

 will manifest widely different dispositions as to tastes, tal- 

 ents, etc. We must therefore conclude that inborn traits in 

 a degree surpass environment; but you are not to infer from 

 this that environment plays no part in the life of the child. 

 Variation of child intellect of a necessity is inborn, hence not 

 attributable to environment. If this be true as regards the 

 intellectual powers of the child, is it not equally true of the 

 physical? Heredity would therefore determine the natural 

 trend of every one. Does not profane and sacred history con- 

 firm this statement*^ Instincts that are abnormal, as well as 

 those that are normal, run through families and are classed 

 under the head of hereditary transmission. The same law pre- 

 vails when applied to plant or animal life. Flowers, fruits 

 and vegetables are improved not only as to quality but quantity 

 and variety. This is also true in the domestic animals. Man 

 is denied, or, rather, does not apply, these laws of heredity 

 to himself or succeeding generations, hence the offspring is a 

 product of blind chance. We must not thus close our eyes 

 and ears, refusing to listen to the voice of wisdom or our 

 better judgment. 



A child has an inherent right to be well born, and yet the 

 per cent, that should be classed under this head is numerically 

 very small. Nature's laws are ignorantly and, may I not add, 

 wilfully set at naught, thus dumping upon society an increase 

 of vice and crime. A knowledge of the laws of heredity and 

 a compliance with them is the foundation of reform. Miss 

 Willard once said: "If man is to overcome the evils of in- 

 temperance, children must be better born." What is true 

 here is also an axiom in regard to all mental, moral and physi- 



