120 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



doctrine ! I cannot think Dr. Cobbett quite appre- 

 ciates what his own doctrine really means. Would 

 he like to sweep civilisation clean of its " Eves," 

 because some men have very bad tempers and 

 little tact, and it is not desirable their environment 

 should be such as to allow them to manifest their 

 defects ? Would it not be better to get rid of the 

 relatively few imperfect men and to leave our Garden 

 of Eden as we know it ? I feel sure that Dr. Cobbett 

 and I will agree upon the answer. 



But I come once more to insist on the primal 

 point, that the environment which reigns in the island 

 makes for peace, and industry, and honesty. Yet in 

 spite of that, this environment is degraded, the 

 lives of people are endangered, slum attributes are 

 manifested, because there are thrown into it persons 

 of defective instincts, derived from defective paren- 

 tages. But not only do they not respond to a good 

 environment, they deliberately and persistently 

 endeavour to destroy or nullify all the good efforts 

 which kind and interested persons endeavour to 

 make on their behalf. 



There is a lady who lives upon the island through- 

 out the year, and who feels a maternal interest in the 

 young persons there, both native and the imported 

 pauper element. She endeavoured for several years 

 to hold a Bible Class for girls and boys over fourteen, 

 in the schoolroom. But it was futile. The Glasgow 

 parish youths, who had been sent to the island to be 

 influenced by better surroundings, collected together 

 outside the schoolroom windows and laughed, and 



