64 



HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



abundance of sunlight are ministers of health. To 

 class such differently nurtured children together, 

 and hold them to the same standards of responsi- 

 bility, is in accordance neither with common sense 

 nor common morality. 



I proceed now to inquire which is the stronger 

 force in determining character, heredity or environ- 

 ment ? If I understand Ribot, he adopts the views 

 of Burdach, which he quotes as follows : " Hered- 

 ity has actually more power over our mental con- 

 stitution and our character than all external 

 influences, physical or moral." ^ Again Ribot 

 says : " We restrict education, as we think, within 

 its just limits when we say that its power is never 

 absolute, and that it exerts no efficacious action 

 except upon mediocre natures." ^ Again: "We 

 must ever bear in mind these facts, and be careful 

 not to believe that education explains everything. 

 We would not, however, in the least detract from 

 its importance. Education, after centuries of 

 effort, has made us what we are. Moreover, to 

 bear sway over average minds is in itself a grand 

 part to play ; for though it is the higher minds 

 that act, it is mediocre minds that react, and his- 

 tory teaches that the progress of humanity is as 

 much the result of the reactions which communi- 



1 Heredity, Ribot, p. 346. 2 Jbid^ p. ^^g. 



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