32 HEREDITY. 



aptitude for learning. All animal trainers agree 

 that progeny of trained animals learn much more 

 readily than do those of the untrained. The ac- 

 quired character of the setter, the pointer, the 

 watch dog, the foxhound or bloodhound has 

 become so fixed as to be instinctive in the young. 

 What is applied to animals is denied to man. 

 How strange, how unfortunate it is, when the 

 laws of heredity are generally understood and 

 applied to the lower animals, that so little ap- 

 plication of them has been made to the improve- 

 ment of man! We have great stock shows and 

 stock journals all over the country; we visit for- 

 o? a Blhid Chance! e ^ n countl "i es and pay fabulous prices that we 

 may improve our herds ; but when we would bring 

 a child into existence a human being that is to 

 partake of our nature, our weaknesses of body 

 and mind, our virtues and vices; a being that 

 is to become a member of society and exert an 

 influence for good or evil as long as the pendu- 

 lum of time continues to vibrate ; a being endowed 

 with an immortal soul, that must some day stand 

 at the judgment bar of God and give account 

 for the deeds done in the body; when we would 

 be the cause of such a being as this coming into 

 existence we too often shut our eyes to the 

 light of science, close our ears to the voice of 

 wisdom and turn this most divine function over 

 to perverted impulse or blind chance! 



Comparativelyjew children are well born. It 

 is saleto^say that less thalT^ne^fourth alre as 

 well born as they could be, if the laws of here- 

 dity and prenatal culture were better understood 

 and put into practice. By the abuse of these 



