CA HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



is " the sum of the influences and agencies which 

 affect an organism from without."^ It is the sum 

 ' of all that is extrinsic to a human being, and which 

 in any way touches or influences him from the 

 beginning of his career. 



Among the influences which have most to do 

 with human growth are, the soil and climate, the 

 food the man eats, the amount of work he is com- 

 pelled to do, the degree of civilization at the time, 

 the state of morals in society, and the examples 

 and ideals which he most frequently sees. Other 

 causes — some good, some evil, some mixed — 

 also play their part in deflecting him from the 

 course on which he originally started. Illustra- 

 tions of the effects of environment in the lower 

 orders of life, among animals and plants, are most 

 abundant and beautiful, but they are not within 

 the scope of this book ; those desiring to pursue 

 this line of investigation are referred to the works 

 of the great modern naturalists, especially the 

 English and German. We have to do with en- 

 vironment in its relation to the life of man as a 

 moral being and a member of society ; and con- 

 cerning this there is little difference of opinion 

 between the various schools of scientific thought. 

 There is general agreement that, mighty as is the 



^ Century Dictionary. 



