24 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



immediate application ; so that my doings, though of no great 

 account in themselves, have been curiously related to large 

 affairs. For this quality I am most indebted to my father's 

 family ; it was not manifested in him, but somewhat in his father, 

 and especially in his uncle William, there was the capacity for 

 thought in action combined with that full share of will which 

 carries purposes to their end. 



In the foregoing pages I have briefly sketched the story of my 

 ancestral life so far as it is known to me. I am aware of the fact 

 that the history of even six generations does not provide an ade- 

 quate background for a judgment as to the inheritances of an in- 

 dividual ; for the reason that while we do not yet know for how 

 long characteristics may remain latent, it is evident from the 

 history of human stocks that they may inhere though they be 

 not manifested for many generations. There is, however, a fair 

 presumption that when half a dozen stages of a life are fairly 

 well known, they afford a tolerable basis for reckoning as to 

 what comes to the last stage in the way of birthright. What 

 else there may be, can in some indefinite measure if indeed 

 the term measure can be applied to it be charged to the ac- 

 count of personal quality and incentive. It is evidently impos- 

 sible to determine the share of the individual in his actions. 

 Some naturalists hold that he has none at all; but this is a 

 preposterous view, because it not only denies human experience 

 in the face of action, but it gives no room for the advance in the 

 series such as has, so far as we can discern, come about through 

 the personal incentive which appears to be characteristic of all 

 organic forms. In my own case, the best analysis that I have 

 been able to make indicates that all my intellectual capacities 

 and emotional trends have reached me from my ancestors in the 

 same way and about as dominatingly as my bodily parts. The 

 use I have made of these transmittenda, the extent to which 

 they have been developed, and especially their continuation in 

 the whole of a life, are the results of that fundamental mystery, 

 the individual will, controlled by and controlling the condi- 



