THE CHILD AND HEREDITY 159 



own acquisition, is destroyed in both cases ; and the very 

 conception of individual improvement and social reform 

 is stultified. Nor is it clear, at least at first sight, in what 

 way the operation of the two forces together can amount 

 to anything better than a double enslavement ; or how the 

 child can be regarded otherwise than as the victim both 

 of heredity and of physical and social environment, as of 

 two colliding necessities. 



And yet it is this latter condition that seems to be pre- 

 sented to us as a fact. That is to say, the child seems to 

 be under the dominion of both. He comes into the world 

 with powers inborn, and in great part unalterable. The 

 whole force of circumstance can only assist him to become 

 what, in a manner, he already is. His intercourse with 

 the world ' ' alters it so little and so unessentially, that we 

 have a right to say that he remains the same." And yet, 

 on the other hand, the influence of the environment is so 

 great as to count for well-nigh all. Apart from it, his 

 powers remain unrealised, for the environment is the very 

 material out of which his character is fashioned. It deter- 

 mines which of his powers are stimulated and actualised, 

 and which are atrophied and left dormant ; and, apparently 

 also, whether they shall be directed towards vice or virtue. 



Owing to this double aspect of human life much con- 

 fusion has ensued both in theory and practice, and we find 

 those who are engaged either in the education of the child 

 or in social reform involved in an endless and apparently 

 futile discussion as to the relative significance of the inner 

 and outer conditions of character. The emphasis is laid 

 upon heredity and environment, or shifted from the one 

 to the other, according to the purpose or need of the 

 moment. From the first point of view we find it main- 



