HEREDITY OR ENVIRONMENT: WHICII 

 MAKES THE MAN ? 



By LOUIS COBBETT, M.D. 



(Lecturer in Pathology, Cambridge University.) 



No one doubts that man conies into the world with 

 definite inborn potentialities. He will be tall or 

 short, dark or fair, qniek tempered or placid what- 

 ever happens ; nay more, in many subtle and minute 

 points he will resemble his parents. But then, on 

 the other hand, he is an imitative creature, is 

 much influenced by his companions, is moulded by 

 circumstances. Both heredity and environment 

 then admittedly go to the making of man. But in 

 Avhat proportions ? That is the question. How 

 much of the finished article is due to the quality of 

 the raw material ? How much to the processes to 

 which it has been subjected in the workshop ? 

 That is the point on which men differ. 



Mr. Mudge has replied to my " criticism " of his 

 " Plea for the Operation of a More Virile Senti- 

 ment in Human Affairs" at some length. From 

 this I am led to suspect that I did not make my 

 meaning so clear as I should have liked. And 1 

 feel constrained to beg for space to express my 

 views more fully. 



My short " criticism " was intended only to 

 discuss the degree of permanence of changes pro- 

 duced in a human strain by alteration of its envi- 



