144 Heredity. 



generation, such as gemmation and fission, this fact is evident. 

 In the higher forms, where the connection of the two sexes is 

 requisite, two contrary forces are brought together, and conse- 

 quently are antagonistic. The result is, that the product will 

 (though not without exceptions) resemble one or other of the 

 parents, or both at once. This general truth, that the organisms 

 of a given type descend from organisms of the same type, is so 

 well established by countless instances that it has the character of 

 an axiom. * The tendency of a living being to repeat itself in its 

 progeny,' says a certain naturalist, * seems to be a sort of necessity. 

 It were difficult to imagine a creature which should not resemble 

 its parents. In fact, so universal is this tendency that it is recog- 

 nized as one of those fundamental facts which underlie all the 

 natural sciences, and which, with regard to them, take the place 

 held by axioms in the mathematical sciences.' 



This being understood, heredity appears in its true light, and 

 the objections brought against it can be appreciated at their value; 

 for the question already stated, ' Are cases of psychical heredity 

 fortuitous, or are they the result of a law?' may plainly be resolved 

 into several parts, each of which easily admits of answer. 



1. Are specific characteristics, physical or moral, transmitted by 

 heredity ? They are always transmitted, both in the animal and 

 in man. 



2. Are those less general characteristics, which constitute races 

 and varieties, hereditary ? They also are hereditary ; a spaniel 

 was never produced by a bull-dog, nor a white man by a negro. 

 And this holds good also of psychical qualities : a given animal 

 possesses not only the general instincts of the species, but also 

 the peculiar instincts of the race. The negro inherits not only 

 the psychological faculties which are common to all men, but 

 also a certain peculiar form of mental constitution, namely, an 

 excess of sensibility and imagination, sensual tendencies, inca- 

 pacity for abstract thought, etc. 



3. Are purely individual characteristics hereditary ? Facts have 

 demonstrated that they are often so, both in physics and in morals. 



In conclusion, heredity always governs those broadly general 

 characteristics which determine the species, always those less 

 general characteristics which constitute the variety, and often 



