122 HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



teachers, but is always inborn. This is clearly- 

 recognized by the three authors who in our time 

 have written most helpfully on this subject. 

 Emerson says : " A man is the prisoner of his 

 power." Powers of individuals are poorly bal- 

 anced. " A topical memory makes him an alma- 

 nac ; a talent for debate, a disputant ; skill to 

 get money makes him a miser, that is, a beggar. 

 Culture reduces these inflammations by invoking 

 the aid of other powers against the dominant 

 talent, and by appealing to the rank of powers." 

 " Culture," he thinks, " cannot begin too early. 

 ... I find, too, that the chance for apprecia- 

 tion is much increased by being the son of an 

 appreciator, and that these boys who now grow 

 up are caught not only years too late, but two or 

 three births too late, to make the best scholars 

 of." He says also that the end of culture is "to 

 train away all impediment and mixture and leave 

 nothing but pure power." ^ 



On the same subject Matthew Arnold quotes 

 Montesquieu as follows : " The first motive which 

 ought to impel us to study is the desire to aug- 

 ment the excellence of our nature, and to render 

 an intelligent being yet more intelligent. "^ Princi- 



1 Essay on Culture^ Emerson. 



"^ Culture and Anarchy, Arnold, p. 6. 



