Hei'edity, Variation and Genius 107 



self-love glorifying itself in guise of virtuous zeal, 

 fanatical fury of feeling with its accompanying 

 disproportion of thought and intensely self-right- ', 

 eous conceit — these and the like inordinate over- 

 growths of an inclination of character are unsound 

 trainings or deformities of mind which, marking 

 a fundamental lack of sincere, whole and whole- 

 some relations with realities, are calculated to 

 breed an innate want of balance and incapacity 

 of true adaptation in the offspring. It would be 

 strange if it were not so. Order, proportion and 

 harmony bespeak a sound, stable and melodious 

 structure of mind ; ecstasies and excesses are 

 disforsions or discords. Not that the subjects 

 of them are therefore without their uses ; they 

 are used for what they are worth, nature making 

 the necessary compensations ; but the chances 

 are that they breed badly, for the fanatic of any 

 sort seldom proves a good sire. 



A natural consequence of their disproportion 

 of mental structure and its accompanying keen I 

 self-conceit and self-righteousness, whereby they 

 honestly see only what the)' wish to see and 

 ignore what agrees not with preconceiving desire, / 

 is that they despise as wickedly blind, or slander 

 as fools, hypocrites, cowards or liars those who 

 differ from or oppose them. Absolutely contra- 

 dictory evidence is met by multiplied assevera- 

 tions, sober refutation by louder reiterations ; for 

 they cannot see that a lie is none the less a 

 lie because it is reiterated ten times with tenfold 



