HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EDUCATION. 479 



That child has since developed into a distinguished man. Wheth- 

 er innate genius was sufficiently strong to have forced him 

 through and above his environment apart from such early dis- 

 covery and encouragement I can not say. At all events it would 

 in all probability have been a case of devious ways, diverted en- 

 ergy, and lost time, if not final partial or complete failure, but for 

 this early recognition. 



No doubt the difficulties in the way of meeting all the parents 

 in the case of a large class in the city school are considerable ; 

 and it may not be feasible to visit all, though much is gained in 

 more ways than one by ascertaining the home environment- as 

 well as the heredities of the pupils. When once the teacher has 

 made a somewhat complete and reliable estimate of the tenden- 

 cies, good and bad, of any pupil and their relative strength, a 

 large part of the problem of development is already solved. 



Every human being may be regarded as an organism with a 

 combination of qualities of varying strength, some of which, in- 

 deed most of which, are good in themselves but either weak or 

 strong relatively to a common standard or with reference to each 

 other, so that the question of balance is one of the most vital. 

 The most dangerous of all members of society are those that are 

 ill-balanced and lack self-control. The real criminal organization 

 is of this nature. But so also is the faddist or extremist of any 

 type dangerous, because being ill-balanced he himself tends to 

 lead mediocre minds astray ; and much energy that might be bet- 

 ter employed must be used to counteract his dangerous doctrines 

 and vigorous efforts. 



The question with the teacher then is, How can I develop 

 each nature committed to my charge so as to strengthen its weak 

 parts physical, intellectual, and moral, so that no faculty shall be 

 unduly developed and that the balance of the whole shall be good 

 while I do not overlook those faculties that are strong and on 

 which the success of the individual so much depends ? It can 

 with the utmost confidence be assumed that in all human beings 

 some powers are by inheritance of different strength from others. 

 Some children are so weak in mathematical perception that they 

 must receive careful and special attention to nurture this faculty 

 up to an approach to the average, while at the same time it must 

 not be made almost the sole standard of intellectual strength or 

 excellence, as I fear has been too much the case in schools within 

 the past twenty years, at all events. An intellect thus weak may 

 have a good deal more than the average capacity for artistic or 

 moral feeling, and men are not mere calculating machines but 

 rather organisms, endowed with feelings that like the steam en- 

 gine supply the source of power, the moving forces. 



How sadly have we neglected the culture of right feeling in 



