2O Heredity and Social Progress 



well-being. In some such way the discov- 

 eries and inventions of the few are extended 

 and their use is enforced, until the whole com- 

 munity, acting in harmony with the local code 

 and moral tradition, acquires and keeps the 

 characters demanded for the best utilization of 

 the environment. Many acquired characters are 

 handed down from generation to generation, a 

 fact in proof that acquired characters are not 

 of necessity inherited. If they were, the great 

 mass of customs, habits, and local traditions 

 would not be needed, society would be organ- 

 ized on a simple basis, and every son would 

 do naturally that which the father did through 

 effort. When, therefore, an improvement is 

 made, the whole community is fastened to the 

 environment by a conscious process which 

 imposes the new activity upon all, and prevents 

 any one from utilizing surrounding conditions 

 in a less effective way than that prescribed 

 by the more efficient. The new conditions 

 are generalized and perpetuated by methods 

 which show that acquired characters are not 

 of necessity transformed into natural charac- 

 ters. Certainly social customs are not based 



