LUTHER BURBANK 



come a rhubarb, and the bee has become a bee, 

 through the same slow process of evolution. 



Each of these organisms, and every other spe- 

 cific organism of all the myriads, has its own con- 

 geries of hereditary factors, and by no conceiv- 

 able influence can these be suddenly transformed. 



What has been developed through the slow 

 process of the ages can be modified through a 

 similar slow process of future ages. Yet within 

 each organism, by virtue of the slow development 

 and modification through the past ages, there are 

 stored up multitudes of hereditary factors that 

 are more or less in antagonism, only one or an- 

 other series of which can be made manifest in a 

 given generation. And the power of environ- 

 ment is exercised in selecting between or among 

 these conflicting factors. 



Nurture could not determine that the Monte- 

 rey pine should cease to be a pine, but it could de- 

 termine whether it should be a dwarf or a giant. 

 Nurture could transform a worker into a queen, 

 but not into a drone. 



The illustrations from the vegetable and ani- 

 mal worlds have been used to make the case 

 tangible. Let us now turn attention to the human 

 organism, and study the application of this prin- 

 ciple to the development of the human child. 



THE PEINCIPLES OP EUGENICS 



When the word "eugenics" first came before 

 the public a few years ago, there were strong ob- 



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