132 Heredity and Social Progress 



source of natural characters which destroy pres- 

 ent adjustment and so alter the environment 

 that better adjustment is possible. 



It is these natural characters which, summed 

 into the name " character," are so highly prized 

 by society. We admire in a man the willing- 

 ness and ability to confront his environment 

 and to transform it to suit his purposes. Char- 

 acter is the culmination of a series begun by a 

 surplus, just as morality and imitation end the 

 series in which a deficit is the first term. 



If surplus energy in the form of impulse 

 were the only effect of an economic surplus, 

 the persons who first enjoyed it would be im- 

 pelled to increased activity, while in their 

 descendants resultant organic modifications 

 would ultimately develop natural characters. 

 Then "character," as we use that term, ap- 

 pearing in descendants, rather than in those 

 who had created the economic surplus, would 

 be a thing of slow formation and not that 

 rapid transformation we so often see. There 

 is, however, a possible alternative. Every com- 

 plex being has partially used organs which are 

 capable of being more fully aroused anew. In 



