WHAT WE MIGHT EXPECT. 169 



resemble its penultimate rather than its latest phase, • 

 and should thus be more like a grand-parent than a 

 parent ; for we observe that we very often repeat a per- 

 formance in a manner resembling that of some earlier, 

 but still recent, repetition ; rather than on the precise 

 lines of our very last performance. First-cousins may 

 in this case resemble each other more closely than 

 brothers and sisters. 



More especially, we should not expect very success- 

 ful men to be fathers of particularly gifted children ; 

 for the best men are, as it were, the happy thoughts 

 and successes of the race — nature's "flukes," so to 

 speak, in her onward progress. No creature can repeat 

 at will, and immediately, its highest flight. It needs 

 repose. The generations are the essays of any given 

 race towards the highest ideal which it is as yet able to 

 see ahead of itself, and this, in the nature of things, 

 cannot be very far; so that we should expect to see 

 success followed by more or less failure, and failure 

 by success — a very successful creature being a great 

 " fluke." And this is what we find. 



In its earlier stages the embryo should be simply 

 conscious of a general method of procedure on the part 

 of its forefathers, and should, by reason of long prac- 

 tice, compress tedious and complicated histories into a 

 very narrow compass, remembering no single perform- 

 ance in particular. For we observe this in nature, both 

 as regards the sleight-of-hand which practice gives to 

 those who are thoroughly familiar with their business, 

 and also as regards the fusion of remoter memories into 

 a general residuum. 



