HEREDITY 39 



stimuli for the cliild I agree completely but when he states that we have 

 half-used talents that we may greatly improve, I feel like adding " if 

 only the proper stimulus is afiPorded " (such as Dr. Pepper afforded Dr. 

 Conklin when Dr. Pepper reminded him that he could do what he had 

 to do). 



But in the last two paragraphs of his address Dr. Conklin's views 

 diverge more widely from mine, and I confess I can not follow him. 

 We are agreed that through bad environment or culture potential inhi- 

 bitions may fail of development ; but I can not see how a man is respon- 

 sible for the consequences of this bad culture of inhibitions any more 

 than he is for not knowing how to read if he has never been taught. 

 And my reaction to his inquiry : " Is it not a fact that belief in our 

 responsibility energizes our lives and gives vigor to our mental and 

 moral fiber " would be a denial. The moral fiber of my dog leaves little 

 to be desired, and there is much in the devotion of many an untaught 

 denizen of Central Africa that can not be matched in the descendant of 

 any Puritan; yet it is fair to doubt if their actions are energized by a 

 " belief in their responsibility," I do not think that " shifting all 

 responsibility from men to their heredity or to that part of their environ- 

 ment which is beyond their control helps to make them irresponsible" 

 or alters to any appreciable degree their behavior ; the Puritan will be a 

 Puritan still ; the wayward girl will be wayward still. My view is that 

 a person really can not react otherwise than he does under the circum- 

 stances in which he finds himself placed; a person, therefore, who 

 accepts the theory that he is not " responsible " can not fail to continue 

 to react in the same old way ; except in so far as the idea may cause him 

 (if he reacts that way) to put himself in the way of getting his environ- 

 ment improved. If I am not (but others are) responsible for my con- 

 duct then I must seek good intellectual and moral influences. And if 

 my neighbor is not responsible for his conduct, but I with others am, 

 why then I must bestir myself to help train him and his children. Man 

 has become in truth his brother's keeper. As the farmer cultivates his 

 crops and rejoices to see them grow, so every man of us lends his service 

 to the culture of his fellow men. But as the corn stalk is powerless in 

 and of itself to add one kernel to its ear, as the spaniel can not train 

 himself to become in any degree a terrier, so I can not find any mechan- 

 ism in man by virtue of which he can react to a given stimulus in a way 

 opposed to that indicated by his inherent traits and functions, including 

 the culture that they have experienced during their development. 



