52 HEREDITARY CHARACTERS 



characters, fewer instincts, and an infinitely greater inborn 

 capacity for making acquirements. 



Let us for a moment consider a comparison between the 

 building of a dwelling by civilised men and the making of 

 a cocoon by a caterpillar. All the skill and powers brought 

 into use in the series of actions involved in the building of 

 a house are acquirements. First there is the planning of 

 the house, which requires a special set of acquirements. 

 Following this, in the actual building, many different kinds 

 of special skill are required, and very probably a dozen 

 different classes of skilled workmen will be employed, each 

 possessing a different set of acquirements, which are neces- 

 sary in order that he may possess a particular kind of skill. 

 To meet certain contingencies among civilised men, different 

 individuals acquire certain kinds of skill and knowledge. 

 Thus many of their acquired characters differ, although in 

 the main they are very similar. No man could carry out 

 any of the operations involved in the building of a house 

 by the aid of his inborn characters ; he is entirely dependent 

 upon acquired characters. The caterpillar, however, carries 

 out the operation of spinning its cocoon to do which it 

 is quite probable no man could ever acquire the requisite 

 skill without ever having had any experience in spinning 

 cocoons before, without any practice, and without ever having 

 made any acquirements in that direction. Moreover, it per- 

 forms this operation once only in its life. It is enabled 

 to do it entirely through its inborn characters. It would 

 be easy to produce any number of similar illustrations, but 

 the one already given is probably sufficient. 



These facts are rendered very evident by considering 

 the condition under which the young of various animals 

 are born into the world. Young insects are born, in the 

 great majority of cases, with just as great a capacity for 

 looking after themselves as they have at any time during 

 their life. When we come to mammals, we find that the 

 young ave largely dependent upon their parents for protec- 

 tion. The higher we go the longer this necessary period 



