324 THE CAUSATION OF DISEASE. 



this case is violence. How, then, it is asked, can heredity 

 play a part in the production of injuries ? I reply, through 

 the power of S to modify E by means of mind. If an indi- 

 vidual places himself in the way of receiving injury, then S 

 must have much to do with the causation, since it is the 

 S that in this case determines the E. If the injury be such 

 as it would have been impossible for the individual to avert, 

 it may be regarded as purely accidental ; but if it be due to 

 carelessness or recklessness, or love of adventure, the S must 

 be held largely responsible for the injury ; and all the various 

 mental characteristics are inherited.* Suppose, therefore, an 

 individual, through utter carelessness on his part, sustains a 

 fractured skull — say, from a falling brick-bat — such injury 

 must, if the carelessness be inherited, which it often is, be 

 allowed to be an inherited disease. Similarly, an individual 

 may be seriously injured in the hunting field, and if this be 

 due to an inherited recklessness, such injury will be clearly 

 inherited also. The remark applies equally to such a case 

 as that of that brilliant soldier, Colonel Burnaby, who, impelled 

 by a love of danger and a dauntless courage, courted death 

 upon the battle-field ; indeed, the very virtue of a man may 

 tend to his death, as it did with the martyrs of old and with 

 the hero Gordon. But do love of danger, courage, or other 

 virtue arise spontaneously, and independently of heredity ? 



Whenever, therefore, an individual suffers disease through 

 imperfect regulation of his E, and this imperfect regulation is 

 the result of some peculiar inherited mental organization, that 

 disease is emphatically inherited. We have already seen that 

 man is to a large extent the controller of his destiny. His 

 power of control lies, of course, in his S, and if the control be 

 defective, the defect is in the S. Such defective control may 

 lead to multitudinous disasters, for a man can wreck his con- 

 stitution in a thousand and one ways. As civilization advances 

 the E of man becomes more and more complex, and greater 

 skill is needed in order to regulate it properly. Causes of 

 disease are multiplied. Unfortunately, over a large number 

 of these the individual has no control, as, for instance, over 



* Herbert Spencer remarks, " Awkwardness is continually entailing injuries 

 and death " (" Principles of Biology," Vol. II. p. 496). 



