THE INFLUENCES OF NURTURE 85 



place that the environment is essential for the develop- 

 ment of any trait, and that traits may differ according 

 to the environment in which they develop." 



Discussion 

 It is unfortunate that an antithesis should be made 

 between ' Nature ' and ^ Nurture,' since it is plain that 

 the two are complementary, not opposed. There can 

 be no development at all without a minimum of nur- 

 ture : no amount of nurture can make a bad inheritance 

 good. 



As a reaction from a period during which over-san- 

 guine expectations were entertained as to the ameliorative 

 effects of improved environment and function, there has 

 been a modern tendency to an undue depreciation of 

 the potency of nurture. This is due to three sets of 

 facts. 



{a) In the first place it is impossible not to be impressed 

 by the extraordinary tenacity of some hereditary char- 

 acters which persist for generations, no matter how the 

 nurture is changed. A pecuHar variety of Greater 

 Celandine (Chelidonium majus), with cut-up leaves, 

 appeared suddenly in an apothecary's garden at Heidel- 

 berg in the sixteenth century, and has bred true ever 

 since in all sorts of surroundings. 



(h) In the second place, while we are not at present 

 discussing the transmissibility of individually acquired 

 modifications, but the influence of peculiarities of nur- 

 ture on the individual development, the general scep- 

 ticism as to the transmission of modifications has prob- 



