ESTHETIC FACULTIES. 31 



associations, the selection and encouragement of 

 talent, and the wide diffusion and imitation of the 



accumulated products of the well-cultivated genius 



i 

 of favourably varying individuals. The fact 



that uneducated persons do not enjoy the higher 

 tastes, and the rapidity with which such tastes are 

 acquired or professed, ought to be sufficient proof 

 that modern culture is brought about by far 

 swifter and more potent influences than use- 

 inheritance. Neither would this hypothetical 

 factor of evolution materially aid in explaining 

 the many other rapid changes of habit brought 

 about by education, custom, and the changed condi- 

 tions of civilization generally. Powerful tastes as 

 is incontestably shown in the cases of alcohol and 

 tobacco lie latent for ages, and suddenly become 

 manifest when suitable conditions arise. Every 

 discovery, and each step in social and moral evolu- 

 tion, produces its wide-spreading train of con- 

 sequences. I see no reason why use-inheritance 



