82 PRODUCTION OF NATIONALITY 



position, it at once becomes apparent that the con- 

 nection between mind and body is extraordinarily 

 evasive. We must regard serious crime, I suppose, 

 as an abnormality. The results have recently been 

 published of an elaborate investigation of the con- 

 vict population of Great Britain. It appeared that 

 these criminals, persons whose offence was sufficiently 

 serious to have received a punishment of more than 

 two years' imprisonment, were in all respects a 

 normal sample of the population differentiated only 

 by the circumstance that they were convicted 

 criminals. Here, surely, it is environment rather 

 than inborn disposition that is at work. 



I do not believe that in the present state of know- 

 ledge we can assume the existence of an actual 

 modification of the stock of the different nations, or 

 that we can guess at the direction given to such 

 possible modification by any of the supposed selective 

 agencies. With regard to mental, moral and emo- 

 tional qualities, which are of preponderating im- 

 portance in man, I do not believe that theory is in a 

 position even to suggest modes in which they could 

 be favoured or hindered by rules of breeding. As I 

 shall proceed to show in the next chapter, nurture is 

 inconceivably more important than nature. The 

 environment of the body and the environment of the 

 mind determine national differences. These variable 

 factors, and notably the environment of the mind, 

 differ from the factors that rule in the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms inasmuch as they involve con- 

 scious human intelligence and choice, conscious 

 imposition on the part of the rulers and conscious 

 acquiescence on the part of the governed. Even if it 



