CHAPTER XIV 



HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 



Mistaken estimate of environment • All the characters of the race, both good 



and bad, are transmitted to the individual by his parentage • The function 



of environment is to assist or to hinder in development • Environment 



does not add unit characters • Modifications due to environment 



Mistaken estimate of environment. There has been handed 

 down to us from our ancestors, by way of tradition, an altogether 

 false estimate of the role of environment in matters of evolu- 

 tion and of life. This false estimate arose naturally as the result 

 of the old-time assumption that all men were born alike, and 

 whether they turned out to be good or bad depended entirely 

 upon the influences by which they were surrounded. 



Now no one can overestimate the power of good opportu- 

 nities or the danger of bad influences, but it is highly desirable 

 that we understand the facts as they actually are. 



All the characters of the race, both good and bad, are trans- 

 mitted to the individual by his parentage. We have seen 

 already that every individual possesses all the characters of the 

 race, because he can transmit them. Many of them may be 

 undeveloped and invisible, and therefore we may not know that 

 he p)ossesses them till we see his progeny under favorable con- 

 ditions for their development ; but we may be assured that they 

 are there in some degree of intensity, if they were known ever 

 to have existed in the ancestry. Whether they develop or not 

 will depend upon two factors : first, their inherent relative inten- 

 sity ; and second, the accident as to whether conditions of life 

 are favorable or unfavorable. 



I have been careful to say "transmitted by his parentage," 

 not " his parents." They came through his parents, it is true, 



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