HUMAN AND ANIMAL EVOLUTION CONTRASTED 27 



by the action of individuals, and may be entirely 

 changed by the development of newly acquired varia- 

 tions. It has had little or nothing to do with the 

 evolution of the human animal, but much to do with 

 the evolution of the civilized human race. It is con- 

 cerned with the transmission from generation to 

 generation of the highest attributes of mankind, 

 whereas organic evolution is concerned in the trans- 

 mission of the lowest, that is, those which we some- 

 times call the animal attributes. It is a factor that 

 our studies of eugenics pay little attention to since 

 it is not controlled by the ordinarily accepted laws 

 of heredity. In everj- respect, indeed, in its method 

 of working and in the characteristics that it trans- 

 mits, social heredity stands in sharpest contrast to 

 organic heredity. 



Social Inheritance and Acquired Characters. — It will 

 be noticed that the characters transmitted by social 

 heredity stand in quite a different relation from 

 those transmitted by organic hereditj^ in that they 

 can be modified and directed by education. The feel- 

 ing of hopelessness that attends discussions of 

 eugenics comes from the belief that our inheritance 

 is definitely fixed in the germ substance from which 

 we came; and, moreover, that nothing that we can 

 do in our own lives, and nothing that we may do for 

 our children after birth can affect their heritage for 

 good or bad. If it is assumed that heritage is fixed 

 by the mating of man and wife, and if nothing except 

 a change in the methods of mating can influence the 

 heritage, then truly the only hope for the future lies 

 in the control of marriage. But quite differently 

 stands anything transmitted by social heredity, since, 

 by the very nature of the case, such characters are 



