12 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



NATURE AND NURTURE. 







The phrase " nature and nurture " is a con- 

 venient jingle of words, for it separates under 

 two distinct heads the innumerable elements of 

 which personality is composed. Nature is all 

 that a man brings with himself into the world ; 

 nurture is every influence from without that 

 affects him after his birth. The distinction is 

 clear : the one produces the infant such as it 

 actually is, including its latent faculties of growth 

 of body and mind ; the other affords the environ- 

 ment amid which the growth takes place, by 

 which natural tendencies may be strengthened 

 or thwarted, or wholly new ones implanted. 

 Neither of the terms implies any theory ; natural 

 gifts may or may not be hereditary ; nurture does 

 not especially consist of food, clothing, education 

 or tradition, but it includes all these and similar 

 influences whether known or unknown. 



When nature and nurture compete for supre- 

 macy on equal terms in the sense to be ex- 

 plained, the former proves the stronger. It is 

 needless to insist that neither is self-sufficient ; 



