INSTINCT AS INHERITED MEMORY. 201 



and like any individual, or tribe of men whom we have 

 yet observed, will have its special capacities and its 

 special limitations, though, as in the case of the indi- 

 vidual, so also with the race, it is exceedingly hard to 

 say what those limitations are, and why, having been 

 able to go so far, it should go no further. Every man 

 and every race is capable of education up to a certain 

 point, but not to the extent of being made from a sow's 

 ear into a silk purse. The proximate cause of the 

 limitation seems to lie in the absence of the wish to 

 go further ; the presence or absence of the wish will 

 depend upon the nature and surroundings of the indi- 

 vidual, which is simply a way of saying that one can 

 get no further, but that as the song (with a slight 

 alteration) says : — 



u Some breeds do, and some breeds don't, 

 Some breeds will, but this breed won't, 

 I tried very often to see if it would, 

 But it said it really could'nt, and I don't think it could." 



It may perhaps be maintained, that with time and 

 patience, one might train a rather stupid plough-boy 

 to understand the differential calculus. This might 

 be done with the help of an inward desire on the part 

 of the boy to learn, but never otherwise. If the boy 

 wants to learn or to improve generally, he will do so in 

 spite of every hindrance, till in time he becomes a very 

 different being from what he was originally. If he 

 does not want to learn, he will not do so for any wish 

 of another person. If he feels that he has the power 

 he will wish ; or if he wishes, he will begin to think 



