HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 175 



They do not belong with civilization, and civilization must elimi- 

 nate them as fast as possible, first, by the control of degenerates ; 

 and second, by making conditions so good as to reduce the 

 development of these uncivilized characters to a minimum. 



This principle is well understood by farmers in dealing with 

 animals and crops. They know that a well-bred animal needs 

 good conditions, good feed, good shelter, and good advantages 

 generally. They know that good varieties need good soil and 

 favorable climate. 



They know, too, that ill-bred animals will not respond to good 

 feed and care, and that poor varieties will not become good by 

 raising them on a good soil. The principle is universal, that 

 the nature of the race is fixed by its breeding. Its personality 

 may be helped or hindered, but cannot be created by its 

 environment. 



Modifications due to environment. If two individuals could 

 be born alike, but grow to maturity in very different environ- 

 ments, the two would look very different. These differences 

 are the modifications due to environment or the conditions 

 and opportunities of life. 



These modifications, we have seen, are due to the fact that 

 any given environment is favorable to the development of 

 certain characters and unfavorable to others. Thus a hot 

 country is favorable to the development of spiny growth and 

 harshness of leaf, but unfavorable to the growth of wool. 



TvvO children are born with equal talent for painting. The 

 one lives with artists all his life, the other with commercial 

 people. Manifestly, the one will most likely be an artist and 

 the other will most likely learn trade, unless, as in rare cases, 

 the instinct is so strong as to be overpowering. 



In one sense, therefore, all living matter is modified by and 

 according to the conditions of life, but in another sense it is 

 not, for no character can develop, however favorable the sur- 

 roundings, unless the faculty was first inherited ; that is to say, 

 the environment cannot supply lacking unit characters. 



