Miscellaneous Papers. 193 



cal defects. Education, of necessity, is a factor in brain- 

 building; it should therefore begin during or while the brain 

 is forming, that it may become a part of it. Evil impressions, 

 evidently, are made upon the mature mind; how much more 

 susceptible, then, is the plastic and forming brain to im- 

 pressions? 



There are many factors which enter into this question of 

 heredity that serve to unpopularize it; they are factors well 

 understood by all. Man is the outgrowth of influences which 

 begin in embryonic life ; they are therefore prenatal and post- 

 natal. Every factor in life is potential, and yet this degree 

 of influence, by the very nature of things, must be varying, 

 and hence cannot be absolute. The elements which enter into 

 the formation of man's life can with propriety be divided into 

 three separate and distinct divisions — generation, education, 

 and regeneration, each one of which plays its part in the de- 

 velopment of a well-rounded life, and man's character re- 

 quires their uniform strength. 



Every man is morally responsible for his acts, but cannot 

 be equally so. Three conditions are essential in man's ability 

 to do right — knowledge, desire for right, and self-control. The 

 moral responsibility of each individual must depend upon 

 these conditions. We must consider man as a creature of 

 heredity and environment. This suggests the question of 

 moral responsibility considered from a legal, a psychological 

 and an ethical standpoint. Are we, then, responsible for er- 

 rors of opinion? If so, to what extent or degree? Responsi- 

 bility is denied by some, who claim that belief is controlled 

 by rigid necessity; that there is a fixed and inexorable law 

 that is or may be born in man which does control him. 

 If this proposition be true, man is not only powerless but 

 blameless. In contradistinction we have those who hold that 

 all error involves guilt. With this class there is no exception 

 to the general rule. A suggestive question is. Are either of 

 these views correct ; and, if not, to what degree are we amen- 

 able to a just law? Sin is the transgression of law and law 

 is a decree. There is not a field but what is crowded with 

 mistakes, hence we have widely different ideas suggested, 

 each type being viewed from different standpoints. This di- 

 versity suggests intellectual error. If by occupation a man's 

 mind becomes diseased this evil will be handed down to his 

 children. 



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