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vigorous will, are generally found in their highest develop- 

 ment, and of those who, cceteris paribus, would be likely to 

 transmit their extraordinary will-power to their descendants. 

 History affords many illustrious examples : for instance, 

 amongst* statesmen the Guises, the Medicis, the Foxes, the 

 Peels, the Pitts, the Sheridans, and the Walpoles ; amongst 

 distinguished soldiers Alexander the Great, Bonaparte, 

 Charlemagne, Coligny, Gustavus Adolphus, Hannibal, 

 Maurice of Nassau, the Napiers, etc., etc., enough at any 

 rate to disprove all idea of accidental coincidence. 



I may here allude briefly to the influence of heredity in 

 the formation of national character, in contradistinction to 

 that of individuals; and it is indisputable that, as in a 

 family, heredity transmits and perpetuates certain physio- 

 logical and psychological characters, so it transmits and 

 fixes the physiological and psychological characteristics of 

 peoples and nations. The character of a nation is but the 

 aggregate of the characters of the individuals composing it, 

 and it consequently follows as a logical sequence that what 

 is thus true of individuals, must also apply to the nations 

 which they compose. The virtues and vices, the strength 

 and the weakness, the success or non-success of a nation is 

 after all but the reflex of the national character ; and we 

 must regard physiological and psychological laws as the 

 ^reat factors in the building up of every character, whether 

 individual or national. The institutions of a nation are the 

 outcome of the people's conduct and religious beliefs : "their 

 manners and creeds are the effect of their character. The 

 character produces the institution, and they in turn form the 

 character ; thus, after several generations, the two are but 

 one, the institutions are but the character rendered visible 

 and permanent." "Still," as Ribot continues, "we must 



