CHAP. XX 



Heredity 337 



spring suggests the two-sided responsibility of parentage ; 

 but the fact has to be corrected by Galton's statistical con- 

 clusion that the offspring inherits a fourth from each 

 parent, and a sixteenth from each grandparent ! Inherited 

 capital is not merely dual, but multiple like a mosaic. 



If we adopt a modined form of Weismann's conclusion, 

 and believe that only the more deeply penetrating acquired 

 characters are transmitted, we are saved from the despair 

 suggested by the abnormal functions and environments of 

 our civilisation. 



And just in proportion as we doubt the transmission of 

 desirable acquired characters, so much the more should we 

 desire to secure that improved conditions of life foster the 

 individual development of each successive generation. 



That pathological conditions, innate or congenital in the 

 organism, tend to be transmitted, suggests that men should 

 be informed and educated as to the undesirability of 

 parentage on the part of abnormal members of the com- 

 munity. 



But while no one will gainsay the lessons to be drawn 

 from the experience of past generations, it should be noticed 

 that Virchow and others have hinted at an " optimism of 

 pathology," since some of the less adequately known abnor- 

 mal variations may be associated with new beginnings not 

 without promise of possible utility. It seems, moreover, 

 that by careful environment and function, or by the inter- 

 crossing of a slightly tainted and a relatively pure stock, a 

 recuperative or counteractive influence may act so as to 

 produce comparatively healthy offspring, thus illustrating 

 what may be called " the forgiveness of nature." 



6. Social Inheritaiice. — The widest problems of 

 heredity are raised when we substitute " fraternities " for 

 individuals, or make the transition to social inheritance — 

 the relation between the successive generations of a society. 



The most important pioneering work is that of Galton, 

 whose unique papers have been recently summed up in a 

 work entitled Natural hiheritance. Galton derived his 

 data from his Records of Family Faculties, especially con- 

 cerning stature, eye-colour, and artistic powers ; and his 



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