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ENVIRONMENT 65 



cate motion, as of the actions which first determine 

 it." ^ The idea of Ribot is that the thousands of 

 years of peculiar environment of separate races 

 has not made very radical changes in the nature 

 of those races. It would appear from his con- 

 clusion that Carlyle was right when he said, 

 " Civilization is only a covering underneath which 

 the savage nature of man continually burns with 

 an infernal fire." 



Be the case with men of genius as it may, my 

 own observations — and this is a phase of the 

 subject that any observing person can study — 

 have led me to the firm conclusion that, with 

 men in general, where there is no organic defect, 

 as in insanity or idiocy, environment is the stronger 

 force ; but that where there is such defect, hered- 

 ity is the dominating factor. Indeed, I think the 

 testimony of all workers for the reform of the 

 vicious and outcast is in substantial accord on 

 this point. The moral instructor of the Massa- 

 chusetts Reformatory told me that more than 

 eighty per cent, of the inmates of that institution 

 after discharge live honourable lives, at least to the 

 extent that they are never again committed for 

 crime. On the other hand, it is well known that 

 a large proportion of those who are sent to the 



1 Heredity, Ribot, p. 351. 

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