106 THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



watered and sunned. They require, as every one knows, 

 careful and subtle nurture if they are to develop aright. 

 To an extent to which the development of the body 

 offers no analogy, the development of the mind is a 

 social product. As we look round among our fellows, 

 we see many whose widely recognised ability was marked 

 in childhood ; there is no getting away from the fact 

 that a fine brain was part of their natural inheritance. 

 But it is not less certain that men of no special excellence 

 of cerebral endowment may by fullness of nurture attain 

 to a high degree of mental efficiency, and that there are 

 others whose fine sword is allowed to rust in its scabbard. 

 The poet, the painter, the musician, the mathematician 

 of high excellence is born not made, but there is in the 

 majority of civilised men a small bud at least correspond- 

 ing to the fine flower of genius, and a certain poetical, 

 artistic, musical, and mathematical capacity is within 

 reach of most. It may be an exaggeration to say that 

 we are as much made as born ; it is certain that more 

 can be made of us than we usually believe. 



Future generations will probably wonder at our 

 treatment of, let us say, the rovers. They can no more 

 help being rovers than one can help having red hair. 

 What has to be done is to make the best of them — ^in 

 boy scouts to begin with, perhaps, as explorers. King's 

 messengers, missionaries, and the like later on. To try 

 to make one an elder of the Church is to court disaster. 



From 89 family histories not selected Dr. Davenport 

 has given substantial backing of fact to his interesting 

 thesis that there are in our natural inheritance two unit 



