SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 47 



stress upon the influence of one life over another 

 and the outworking of a principle in a soul, they, 

 above all others, should accept the fact of pre- "Consistency, 

 natal culture. If, as they teach, the good and jewel." 

 evil thoughts of one life can affect another, then 

 surely the prospective mother can and does mod- 

 ify the character of her offspring. How irra- 

 tional to speak of evil thought waves, or oppos- 

 ing minds influencing the adult life sufficiently 

 to cause sickness, error and even death, and then 

 to insist that such influences do not affect the 

 forming child ! 



Theosophists, especially those who accept the 

 teachings of the oriental cult, usually oppose 

 heredity because it conflicts in a measure with 

 ancient dogma of reincarnation. The doctrine 

 of reincarnation is based largely upon negative 

 evidence; it is supported by very little, if any, 

 positive evidence. It is an ancient theory insti- 

 tuted to account for certain facts and phenomena 

 in human life that in the absence of a knowledge 

 of heredity and psychic law were inexplicable. 

 In our day heredity and psychic law combined ac- 

 count for all the phenomena upon which this 

 doctrine is based. Even if reincarnation were 

 true, the law of heredity would still apply; for 

 all theosophists admit that the soul during its 

 incarnation is limited in its powers of expres- 

 sion, and largely in its development, also by the 

 body it inhabits. Now, since the body is con- 

 trolled by physical heredity, the theosophists to 

 be consistent should acknowledge its potency in 

 the formation of a soul and strive to promote 

 rather than to retard the study of its laws, so 



