From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



concerns the subconscious, appears to be independent 

 of hereditary conditions, independent also of sensory 

 acquirement, and of the effort necessary for conscious 

 intellectual acquirement. 



Whence, indeed, do the subconscious powers come ? 

 These powers, manifest as talent, genius, or inspiration, 

 are not acquired, they are innate. Work, enthusiasm, 

 or repeated effort, may, to some degree, develop them; 

 it cannot create them. 



How can we comprehend these innate powers ? 

 The failure of all attempts at interpretation, whether by 

 heredity or cerebral conformation is now definite. 



The examples adduced of well and clearly established 

 psychic heredity are quite exceptional. 



The best known is that of the family of John 

 Sebastian Bach, which, between 1550 and 1846, pro- 

 duced twenty-nine eminent musicians. But is this 

 entirely due to heredity ? To be sure of this, the other 

 factors surrounding influences, education, family tradi- 

 tions, collective enthusiasm, and so forth, should be 

 eliminated. 



What is extraordinary is not that here and there 

 we should find cases of seeming psychic heredity, but 

 rather that, having regard to the frequency and triteness 

 of physical inheritance, we meet with so few. The fact is 

 that the function of heredity is as indistinct and secondary 

 in psychology as it is important and predominant 

 in physiology. Certain predispositions, especially the 

 artistic, are sometimes hereditary, but, as is well known, 

 high psychic faculties talent and genius are not 

 traceable to ancestry oftener than they are transmitted 

 to posterity. 



The differences between physical and psychical 

 inheritance are too distinctive to be referred to physio- 

 logical causes. How can we explain why two brothers 

 may resemble each other outwardly, and morally have 

 nothing in common ? 



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