TRADITION AND HEREDITY 471 



ticular tradition without any definite desire on his part or even 

 perhaps without any clear realization as to what it is precisely 

 that he is doing? The second explanation is that which best 

 fits the facts. It seems clear that, as tradition changes in the 

 course of years, the activities of the energetic ambitious men are 

 led this way and that. At present no doubt to a certain degree 

 they are led in the direction of ' pushfulness ' by what M. Faguet 

 has called ' le gout d'arrivisme '. It is always dangerous to read 

 into the activities of men the working of particular innate 

 characteristics. Few things in history perhaps have been as 

 harsh as the conduct of the generation which devised the game 

 laws, and yet these very men did not merely quote the classics 

 with unbounded enthusiasm but were also moved by genuine 

 sympathy and altruism to abolish slavery, the horrors of which were 

 known to them only by report. We should refrain, therefore, from 

 deducing from the activities of the successful men and of the upper 

 classes more than the presence of those simpler characteristics men- 

 tioned above as leading to positions of pre-eminence over other men. 



These simpler characteristics are in themselves very complex 

 manifestations of many elements, of which tradition is one. But 

 in the case of this particular problem, as we are considering rise 

 from a lower to a higher social status, tradition cannot be held 

 to be the cause of the differences. There are, in fact, unquestionably 

 innate differences in temperament and disposition which underlie 

 the characteristics leading to success, and the temperamental 

 differences which have been curiously neglected are probably 

 the most important and form perhaps half the secret of success. 

 Among the temperamental characteristics leading to success we 

 may note low degree of fatiguability, high power of recuperation, 

 rapidity of response, hopeful nature, vigour, energy, and healthy 

 nervous tone. Among the characteristics of disposition we may 

 note similarly the instincts of self-assertion, of emulation, and of 

 acquisition. The power of forming habits is probably also a con- 

 siderable aid to success under modern conditions. 



What part does intellect play ? Judging from the fact that 

 it is certainly an aid to success, though not so powerful a factor 

 as is usually thought, we may conclude that there is some, probably 

 a slight, difference in intellectual capacity between the classes. 

 Intellect, when it accompanies success, is rather more hi the 

 nature of an incidentally favourable factor than of a primary 



