CHAPTER I 

 Theories of Nature and Nurture 



This monograph summarizes a study of the nature and 

 nurture of American men of letters. The task attempted 

 was to isolate for investigation the chief factors in each of 

 these influences, to throw some light on the importance of 

 each in the development of men of letters, and to show the 

 bearing of the facts discovered on some of the chief theories 

 of nature and nurture. 



Sir Francis Galton makes a very satisfactory statement 

 of the meaning of the terms nature and nurture when he 

 says : 



The phrase " nature and nurture " is a convenient jingle of 

 words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumer- 

 able elements of which personality is composed. Nature is 

 all that a man brings with himself into the world ; nurture is 

 every influence from without that affects him after his birth. 

 The distinction is clear : the one produces the infant such 

 as it actually is, including its latent faculties of growth of 

 body and mind ; the other affords the environment amidst 

 which the growth takes place, by which natural tendencies 

 may be strengthened or thwarted, or wholly new ones im- 

 planted. Neither of these terms implies any theory ; natural 

 gifts may or may not be hereditary ; nurture does not especially 

 consist of food, clothing, education or tradition, but it in- 

 cludes all these and similar influences whether known or 

 unknown. 1 



1 Francis Galton, English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nur- 

 ture (London, 1874), p. 12. 



13] 13 



