96 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



give increasing insight into the mechanisms govern- 

 ing human character. 



Thus the mechanistic view of human life and the 

 scientific fatalism with which it is interwoven do 

 not lead to hopeless resignation. They do not 

 mean an abandonment of desires and interests in 

 favor of a Hindu-like contemplation of the navel. 

 On the contrary, they point unmistakably toward the 

 utilization of the great potential forces that exist in 

 nearly every normal individual. It has probably 

 never happened that a human brain has been edu- 

 cated or developed to anything like its real capac- 

 ity; nor is it likely that such a development will 

 ever take place. But ordinarily the results do not 

 merely fail to approach the ideal, but fall pitifully 

 below it. A locomotive which fails to develop more 

 than a small fraction of its potential capacity would 

 be regarded as a failure and would quickly be 

 replaced by one of a better type. Probably most hu- 

 man nervous systems develop only a small fraction 

 of what is within their power, either quantitatively 

 or qualitatively. The recognition of this will lead 

 to increasingly intelligent efforts in the development 

 of personality, in other words, to improved educa- 

 tion. Scientific fatalism recognizes not merely the 

 inherent limitations of the human mechanism (which 

 depend upon the quality and inherited memories of 

 its protoplasm), but also the nearly limitless possi- 

 bilities of reaction in a machine so labile and recep- 

 tively capacious as the nervous system. To develop 



