138 FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 



This formula may be translated into intelligibility as 

 follows : Richard Roe has the sum of species characters : 

 race characters; one unequal fourth of father's pecul- 

 iarities; one unequal fourth of mother's peculiarities; 

 one sixteenth of paternal grandfather's peculiarities; 

 one sixteenth from maternal grandfather; one sixteenth 

 from each grandparent ; one sixty-fourth from each 

 great-grandparent, etc. ; an unknown part of the gain 

 through the father's activity; an unknown part of gain 

 through the mother's activity ; an unknown part of loss 

 the idleness or non-development of each; an unknown 

 chance through prenatal influences received through 

 the mother; the whole multiplied or divided by the 

 influences arising from transmission or early nutrition 

 and to be modified in every part by the fact that he 

 is a man. 



But these symbols indicate only potentialities. These 



make up the architect's plan on which his life is to be 



built. The plan admits of much play 



Potentialities ^^^ deviation. Every wind that blows 



not character. .,, , • i- 1 rr^, 1 



Will change it a little. Ihese elements 



themselves are of varied character. They do not be- 

 long together nor are they held in place, so far as we 

 know, by any "ego" except that made by the cell alli- 

 ance on which they depend. Some of these elements 

 the experiences of life will tend to reduce or destroy. 

 Some of them will be systematically fostered or checked 

 by those who determine Richard Roe's early environ- 

 ment. The final details will be beyond prediction. 

 The ego or self in the life of Richard Roe is the sum 

 of his inheritance, bound together by the resultant of 

 the consequences of the thoughts and deeds which have 

 been performed by him and perhaps by others also. 

 Thus each day in his life goes to form a link in the 

 chain which binds his conscious processes together. The 



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