i68 HEREDITY AND EUGENICS 



inheritance factors which appear to follow Mendelian 

 rules. 



Modern psychology is only beginning to recognise 

 the importance of the inheritance element in mental 

 differences . McDougall ( 1 9 1 9) clearly recognises such 

 an element in inheritance, but many psychologists 

 are still too engrossed with the mind itself to recognise 

 the genetic relationships of its various elements to 

 the minds of relatives. Psychopathologists also 

 frequently fail to appreciate that any element of 

 mental inheritance exists. For example, Kempf 

 (1921) studies the development of the mind with a 

 complete disregard of the facts of mental inheritance. 

 He devotes forty pages to an analysis of Darwin's 

 mental development from the psychoanalytical point 

 of view. We hear nothing at all of the inheritance 

 of mental traits, but everything is explained on the 

 basis of the mental relationships between Charles 

 Darwin and his father, the early influence of his 

 mother (who died when he was eight years of age), 

 and afterwards of his wife. He sees in Darwin's 

 mother's " charming interest in nature," her 

 " romantic fondness for flowers," her keeping of 

 pigeons, and her interest in the theories of her father- 

 in-law, Erasmus Darwin (author of Zoonomia), a 

 basis for Darwin's interest in nature. This inspired 

 her son to search for '' the secret of her fascination." 

 At the age of eight he had alread}^ begun to collect 

 " all sorts of things." The writer mentions that 

 collecting was a characteristic of several of Darwin's 

 uncles, but fails to recognise any element of in- 

 heritance in the reappearance of this trait. It seems 

 more probable that Darwin inherited this quality, 

 than that it was based on the development of a 

 childish fantasy which originated through his mother's 

 influence on his early mental development. 



Granting that Darwin's mother's '' charming in- 



