2 Heredity and Child Culture 



more important influence, yet in the scheme of 

 evolution the higher the animal the more im- 

 portant and influential become nurture and en- 

 vironment. This is especially emphasized in 

 the human race by the prolongation of the 

 period of infancy. John Fiske was the first to 

 elaborate this fruitful view of one of the funda- 

 mental laws of higher evolution, that not only 

 throws a strong light on the methods of evolu- 

 tion but lays the greatest importance upon the 

 period of infancy as influencing the future de- 

 velopment and usefulness of the individual. 



This long period of helpless infancy is a time 

 of extreme plasticity when the career of the 

 individual is no longer predetermined by the 

 career of its ancestor. One generation of the 

 lower animals is nearly an exact reproduction 

 of the preceding one. The young animal is 

 born almost fully formed and can look out for 

 itself at once or shortly after birth, independ- 

 ently of the parent. The longer the infancy 

 and growing time of an animal the longer the 

 period of its teachability; and a slow growth 

 means an increase both in capacity for develop- 



