HEREDITY 501 



the venture of parenthood. The deliberate or coerced celi- 

 bacy of fine types may have implied in some cases an en- 

 richment of the social heritage, but it is very unsound bio- 

 logically. 



In regard to questions with a wider horizon than racial 

 persistence the biologist must — as biologist — remain silent, 

 but it is not unscientific to plead for keeping doors open till 

 they must be shut. The personality of a genius — whether 

 intellectual, artistic, or moral — is an amazing fact, perhaps 

 further beyond the individuality of a dog than that is be- 

 yond the unity of an amoeba. It is not the general body of 

 the man that is distinctive, but the greatly increased com- 

 plexity of the nervous system and the correlated new liberty 

 and integration of thinking and feeling and willing. And 

 this personality is still in process of evolution. Who shall 

 ^x its limits? 



When, after thousands of years of discussion, all remains 

 dark except in the light of Christianity, why should we 

 continue the unending quest? But it is unlikely that man 

 will ever cease from such adventuring, and it is not to be 

 desired as long as the quest does not interfere with the 

 discharge of his daily duties. As Simmias said in the 

 Phoedo, shortly before Socrates was to die: "I will tell 

 you my difficulty and Cebes will tell you his. I feel my- 

 self (and I daresay that you have the same feeling) how 

 hard or rather impossible is the attainment of any cer- 

 tainty about questions such as these in the present life. 

 And yet I should deem him a coward who did not prove 

 what is said about them to the uttermost, or whose heart 

 failed him before he had examined them on every side. 

 For he should persevere until he has achieved one of two 

 things: either he should discover, or be taught the truth 



