Heredity 



have within us, from the start, that which will 

 distinguish us from the vulgar herd. Now to 

 what do we owe this distinctive character? 

 To some throwback of atavism, men tell us. 

 Heredity, direct in one case, remote in an- 

 other, hands it down to us, increased or modi- 

 fied by time. Search the records of the family 

 and you will discover the source of the genius, 

 a mere trickle at first, then a stream, then a 

 mighty river. 



The darkness that lies behind that word 

 heredity! Metaphysical science has tried to 

 throw a little light upon it and has succeeded 

 only in making unto itself a barbarous jargon, 

 leaving obscurity more obscure than before. 

 As for us, who hunger after lucidity, let us 

 relinquish abstruse theories to whoso delights 

 in them and confine our ambition to ob- 

 servable facts, without pretending to explain 

 the quackery of the plasma. Our method cer- 

 tainly will not reveal to us the origin of in- 

 stinct; but it will at least show us where it 

 would be waste of time to look for it. 



In this sort of research, a subject known 

 through and through, down to its most inti- 

 mate peculiarities, is indispensable. Where 

 shall we find that subject? There would be 

 a host of them and magnificent ones, if it were 



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