EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT 289 



' In not a single instance,' Galton writes, ' have I met 

 with a word about the growing dissimilarity being due 

 to the action of the firm, free will of one or both the 

 twins which had triumphed over natural tendencies ; 

 and yet a large proportion of my correspondents happen 

 to be clergymen, whose bent of mind is opposed, as I 

 feel assured, to a necessitarian view of life.' The only 

 conclusion which can be drawn from these observations 

 is that the relative influence of nurture as opposed to 

 nature is very much smaller than has been generally 

 supposed ; and this inference is confirmed by the 

 history of dissimilar twins. The descriptions of the 

 latter agreed without exception in showing an entire 

 absence of convergence of character in cases where 

 the whole training and environment were closely 

 similar. From this evidence it seems right to conclude 

 that the hereditary nature of a man is more important 

 than his training and circumstances in determining 

 his adult mental and physical equipment, and the 

 result of common observation may be said to be in 

 agreement with this conclusion. , 



You may educate generation after generation, and 

 yet the starting-point from which each individual has 

 to begin his struggle upwards may remain the same, 

 even though each may struggle a little farther than the 

 one who came before him. On the other hand, we 

 have all of us met a few of those happy people to 

 whom it seemed second nature to do the right thing, 

 and for whom the difficulties of life appear to have 

 no menace. These qualities are those of nature, and 

 not of nurture, and their children will inherit them. 

 Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and 



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