human and animal evolution contrasted 31 



Scope of the Two Types of Social Heredity 



Having recognized the two sharply contrasted 

 methods by which one generation can transmit its 

 characters to the next, we must raise the question as 

 to the scope of the two methods. An extended dis- 

 cussion of the general conclusions upon this question 

 will be reserved for a later part of this work. At 

 this point will be given a brief outline of the applica- 

 tion of organic and social heredity to certain phases 

 of life. Manifestly, we should infer that social he- 

 redity is concerned in the transference of all that is 

 generally comprised in the broad term of social attri- 

 butes, while organic inheritance would deal with the 

 purely animal nature of man. But this statement is 

 too vague to show the real import of the subject. 



Social Heredity in Animals. — "We may notice, in the 

 first place, that the reason why social heredity has 

 been so generally neglected in discussions of evolu- 

 tion is because such discussions have been largely 

 based upon a study of animals lower than man, 

 and among them social heredity plays a compara- 

 tively small part. ' The lower orders of nature have 

 only been incidentally touched by the forces of 

 social heredity. The essential feature of social 

 inheritance lies in the ability of the individual to 

 learn from his surroundings and to teach his off- 

 spring what he has learned, this form of heredity 

 being really a relearuing or reacquiring by the 

 young of those things that the parent is able to teach. 

 Now, it is notorious that animals are capable only 

 to the most limited extent of learning anything. 

 Among some of the higher and most intelligent of 

 them there seems to be fairly good evidence that 



