XXI 



THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF TRADITION 



AND HEREDITY 



1. We are now in a position to attempt an estimate of the 

 relative importance of germinal change on the one hand and 

 of the accumulation of tradition on the other.^ The direct influ- 

 ence of the environment cannot be left altogether out of account ; 

 it is, however, already apparent from what has been said on the 

 subject that, although the direct influence of the environment 

 may modify the course of history, it is not an important factor 

 in comparison with the other two. That which renders the 

 problem so difiicult is the fact that the manifestations of human 

 characteristics are shaped both by traditional changes and by 

 germinal changes, and that each kind of change reacts on the 

 other. Thus if we observe increasing subservience in the charac- 

 teristics of a race, we must remember that previous elimination 

 of the more self-assertive may manifest itself in this manner by 

 moulding tradition through a long course of years, that the nature 

 of the environment may set the current of tradition flowing in 

 this direction, or that both factors may be at work ; and that, 

 so far as the second factor is at work, it may for reasons to be 

 explained below cause the elimination of the more self-assertive 

 and so accelerate the process. It is in fact very difficult to arrive 

 at any precise conclusions regarding particular problems, but we 

 shall, after considering certain problems, reach a fairly definite 

 conclusion regarding the relative importance of these factors 

 in general. 



2. With these problems in view we may first consider the 

 general characteristics of the intertmediate period and then those 

 of the three subsequent periods. 



It is clear that at the beginning of the intermediate period the 

 ancestors of man were living under those conditions which we 



1 According to Delvaille {Histoire de Vldee de Progres, p. 405) Terrasson, writing 

 in the eighteenth century, was the first author to emphasize the importance of 

 tradition in the modem sense — particularly in his work La Philosophic applicable 

 d tous les ohjets de la raison. 



