HEREDITY AND KNVITtONMKN'T 87 



Plainly this is a fact of very great practical im- 

 portance. Just as the discussion as to the inherit- 

 ance of acquirements directly deals with the utility 

 of education to the future race, so the fact that the 

 environment can only determine ihc scope of innate 

 characters and can never create even the smallest 

 character, affects profoundly our estimate of the 

 importance of education to the hidividual. What wo 

 commonly understand by education is simply a parti- 

 cular portion of the environment. In my opinion, 

 the only adequate and scientitic detinition of educa- 

 tion is the provision of an environment. Thus, using 

 the word in its largest sense, we see that all experi- 

 ence — which is converse ivith the environment — is 

 educative. But, further, our study of the relation 

 between environment and heredity prepares us to 

 appreciate the fitness of the word education. I have 

 detined education as the provision of an environment, 

 and we have already seen that the environment never 

 creates but merely acts on the materials provided by 

 heredity. Note, then, how tit the word education is; 

 it signifies a leading forth. This is precisely what 

 the environment does; it leads fort I i the characters 

 already present in the individual. We must empha- 

 tically realise that education — i.e. the action of en- 

 vironment — is thus incapable of creating a poet or a 

 billiard-player or aught else ; but, if the organism has 

 these potentialities, education will give them scope. 



However, we uuist not omit the consideration of 

 the negative action of the environment — and there- 

 fore of education. The word is not perfect, for it 

 ignores half the business of education, which is 

 not merely a leading forth but also a forcing back. 



