THE LESSON OF HEREDITY 



that of environment. And, indeed, if we were to carry 

 the analysis back along exactly the same lines to include 

 the remote ancestors and their fundamental tendencies, 

 we should find that exactly the same arguments apply 

 there with equal force. Time was, in the far past, when 

 these qualities, which we now term fundamental 

 because they are of long standing, were in their turn 

 developing; and we are bound to believe that they also 

 were developed primarily through the influence of 

 environmental forces, acting on a responsive organism. 

 In fact, all that we can know of life and mind is the 

 reaction of a certain kind of matter to the impinging 

 forces of its environment. 



In this view, the most that can be said for heredity 

 is that it has held a kind of receptacle into which ten- 

 dencies as they were developed were thrown for safe 

 keeping. It has developed nothing, originated nothing; 

 but it has been a most faithful Lord High Keeper of 

 the Treasury, for it has let no single precious tendency 

 escape when once it had been acquired. 



The function of heredity, then, is the retention and 

 transmission of tendencies. This function it performs 

 with the most absolute impartiality. It sees to it that 

 each quality of an individual whether dominant or 

 subordinate, patent or latent is represented in the 

 progeny of that individual. It can do no more; its 

 mission is completed for that generation; it must leave 

 the plastic material for the great moulder, environment. 



And the forces of environment come to the attack 

 right vigorously. But they also have their limitations. 

 Certain general characteristics of body and mind have 



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