304 Heredity and Environment 



The thought of this age has been profoundly influenced by such 

 considerations. We formerly heard that "all men were created 

 free and equal" ; we now learn that "all men are created bound 

 and unequal." We were once taught that acts, if oft repeated, 

 become habits, and that habits determine character ; hereditarians 

 of the stricter sort now teach that acts, habits and character were 

 foreordained from the foundation of the family. We once thought 

 that men were free to do right or wrong, and that they were re- 

 sponsible for their deeds ; now we learn that our reactions are 

 predetermined by heredity, and that we can no more control them 

 than we can control our heart beats. For ages men have be- 

 lieved in the influence of example, in the uplift of high ideals, 

 in the power of an absorbing purpose; for ages men have lived 

 and died for what they believed to be duty and truth, and have 

 received the homage of mankind ; or they have lived malevolent 

 and criminal lives and have been despised by men and punished 

 by society. But if our reactions, habits, characters are prede- 

 termined in the germ plasm such men have deserved neither 

 praise nor blame. If personality is determined by heredity alone 

 all teaching, preaching, government is useless ; freedom, respon- 

 sibility, duty are delusions ; whether men are useful or useless 

 members of society depends upon their inheritance, and the only 

 hope for the race is in eugenics — always supposing that enough 

 freedom is left to the individual or to society to control the im- 

 portant function of choosing a mate. 



Already a few enthusiastic persons have begun to apply these 

 doctrines to practical affairs. We are told that children should 

 never be admonished or punished, for they do only what their 

 natures lead them to do; the nature of the child must be respected 

 and must be allowed to manifest itself in its own way. Lying 

 and stealing will cure themselves like the mumps, or they will 

 remain incurable, in which case the germ plasm is to blame and 

 nothing could have been done anyway. Laziness is due to in- 

 heritance or to hookworms ; the latter kind may be cured, but 

 not the former. Thriftlessness, alcoholism and uncleanness run 



