DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 45 



brought up away from its parents and in com- 

 plete ignorance of them (for this also is essential 

 to a fair experiment) would present any of their 

 moral characteristics in a definite form. May 

 we say that a certain amount of psychical energy 

 is inherited, but the direction it takes is mostly 

 determined by circumstances? though we 

 must admit that it may be of a kind which 

 more readily takes to certain occupations than 

 to others. Individuals start with inherited 

 tendencies or capacities ((pvo-iKou Swdfieis, op/xal), 

 not with fully formed habits [a^xapia-fxtvui e^eis). 

 An energetic or an apathetic temperament, a 

 cool or a nervous temperament is transmitted ; 

 but it seems very doubtful how far mere in- 

 heritance goes beyond that, apart from the 

 external influences in early life, which generally 

 act along with it. As we see so often, the son 

 of people who have pushed themselves up in 

 the world and made their fortune, may inherit 

 the energy of his ancestors but not their busi- 

 ness habits, and so he may only go to the 1 devil 

 more vehemently than others who come of a 

 race longer accustomed to prosperity and who 

 get an early training in the more elegant 

 squandering of wealth. 



