214 HEREDITARY CHARACTERS 



an individual chromosome, and if this individual character 

 gives the organism an advantage, the entities representing 

 the character must be increased at each subsequent genera- 

 tion through the action of natural selection. Thus in time 

 every chromosome would contain entities representing the 

 character selected. It may be that when all the chromo- 

 somes in all the individuals of a race have contained entities 

 representing a particular character for a certain length of 

 time, the potentiality of producing that character is acquired 

 by the general protoplasm of the cell. 



Apparently acquired characters can be but rarely if ever 

 transmitted from parents to offspring. Even accepting this 

 view, it is necessary to realise very thoroughly, in considering 

 social and hygienic problems connected with the human 

 race, that most characters in man are acquired characters, 

 or are inborn characters modified beyond recognition by 

 acquirements. The only reason why man has attained his 

 high position in relation to other living organisms is, that 

 he possesses a vastly greater capacity for making acquire- 

 ments than is the case with any other organism. Most of 

 his instincts have gone, and even most of his physical 

 characters are liable to extreme modifications ; indeed, 

 but for use acquirements, the body of man would fail 

 to develop into u form recognisable as that with which we 

 are familiar. 



Mental characters are also due very largely to acquire- 

 ments. Of course individuals differ in their capacities for 

 making various mental acquirements, but these characters 

 must depend to a considerable extent upon environment, 

 that is, upon education in its broadest sense. Any form of 

 education which limits the making of mental acquirements 

 must be fundamentally wrong. That child will have the 

 best chance of complete mental development who is taught 

 to think for itself, and to judge between the true and false, 

 reason and unreason. To bring up children on bald dogma, 

 and to teach them that enquiry in certain directions is 

 wrong, must necessarily limit their mental development. 



