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steady average of virtue and of capacity in mankind 

 that precludes any general deviation from "honest 

 Nature's rule"; but it is strange to reflect that inde- 

 pendently of fortune and of education, every man's 

 character is evolved by a haphazard process, over 

 which he has no control. It was indeed a sapient 

 remark of Heine's that a man ought to be very 

 careful in the selection of his parents. 



Owing to the imperfect nature of all family records, 

 proofs of reversion in the case of human beings are 

 difficult to find. The recurrence of physical char- 

 acter after the lapse of centuries is attested by por- 

 traits, but moral character of a normal kind, except 

 for the uncertain light thrown upon it by history, can 

 scarcely be traced beyond the third generation. Oc- 

 casionally an old family nurse is heard to declare 

 that a boy acts just like his grandfather, whom he 

 has never seen, but, there, direct testimony on the 

 subject commonly ends. Yet by the analogy of the 

 lower animals the reversion of moral characteristics 

 after many generations may be regarded as a cer- 

 tainty. 



Instinct is nothing more than fixity of character 

 induced by heredity. The domestic dog, when he 

 buries food that he will have no occasion to dig up 



