CHAPTER XI 



ENVIRONMENT 



No one who has taken a trip to Brighton who 

 has fled from the exhausting heat of a London 

 August to the crisp air of the Alps, or the fresh 

 breezes of Scotland will deny for a moment 

 the exhilarating effect of the change in sur- 

 roundings. And no one who has visited a boys' 

 club in the East End of London but has been 

 struck with the effect of city life in sharpening the 

 features and paling the complexion. That en- 

 vironment affects men for good and evil is indis- 

 putable. It may affect their physical growth and 

 form : it may affect their character : it may affect 

 their habits. A tropical climate appears to stifle 

 the energy of European settlers : the extra- 

 ordinary development in means of locomotion, 

 which is one of the characteristic features of our 

 times, has beyond doubt stimulated a changeful 

 spirit in modern Europe. Do such influences as 

 these affect the race as well as the individual ? Do 

 they touch the reproductive cells from which new 

 individuals arise, so that they start in life with an 

 advantage or a handicap ? This question is of 

 immense importance. In so far as environment 

 affects individuals, its influence may be corrected 

 by a change of surroundings, or, perhaps, by a 

 change of culture. But if it affects the germs 

 which carry on the race, the peculiarities that it 

 causes become a heritage which may hardly be 



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