114 CHANGE IN CHARACTEE. 



Universal experience and observation justify the state- 

 ment that if all men were alike in organisation and 

 inheritance they would be practically alike in character 

 despite any diversity of circumstance. The converse 

 statement is equally true : if men differ in organisation 

 they will differ in character no matter how complete 

 may be the sameness of environment. If, to-morrow, 

 the units which compose society were to become in all 

 ways and permanently alike, the advent of some form 

 of socialism would be inevitable; so long as the units 

 continue to be unlike, pure socialism will continue to 

 be a dream. 



It is not difficult to understand how the idea of the 

 predominance of circumstance arose seeing that it does 

 actually affect and modify, in some degree, all or- 

 ganised life and not organised life only ; not only does 

 an apple rush to the globe but the great globe itself 

 travels a short distance to meet the apple. The 

 impression is the stronger because of the frequent 

 confusion of normal and average circumstance with 

 that which is abnormal and violent. If, adopting 

 scientific methods, we observe life directly rather than, 

 in obedience to purely literary methods, reflect on it 

 in arm chairs, several matters will come clearly into 

 view. While fundamental alteration in character (and 

 nerve) from normal circumstance is extremely rare, 

 grave modification does happen in a number of in- 

 stances from abnormal circumstance : the change is 

 chiefly in the moral elements of character and moral 

 nerve structure, and is therefore the more conspicuous 

 in its manifestation, as it is also the more serious in 

 its results. Its commonest cause is the saturation 

 of the nerve structures with alcohol the moral struc- 

 tures being the first to suffer. In a few instances, 



