296 REV. PROF, A. CALDECOTT, D.LITT., D.D., ON HEREDITY, ETC. 
the difficulty was to determine what characteristics were to be deemed 
acquired. A man got a certain trick or peculiar gait in his walk, and 
one could recognize his son a long way off by his similar gait. So 
too there was often a more pronounced likeness in the voices of a 
family than in their features. A man becomes a drunkard or a 
criminal—his children have a tendency to follow his steps; the 
question arose whether that was from heredity or from their environ- 
ment. The introduction of eugenics with Biblical philosophy was a 
tacit acknowledgment that certain characteristics were hereditary, 
and that by a proper selection we might obviate the degradation of 
the race. But while such selection might be made with regard to 
the lower animals, yet as long as free will and love existed as 
attributes of humanity an election in breeding was an impossibility. 
The science, therefore, of eugenics seemed to beg the whole question 
and was, at all events at present, outside the range of practical 
application. 
The CHAIRMAN pointed out that while the lecturer stated in 
clear terms his belief in the power of heredity in the physical 
organism, and not in the mental, yet he admitted ‘“ that in the lower 
ranges of mind the contention for heredity is plausible.” But how 
can we distinguish between the lower and higher minds? Can we, 
if we accept evolution, draw a sharp line between the two ? Are not 
also the physical and mental so bound together that they interact so 
that we cannot separate the two. An irritable man is so because of 
physical weakness. So heredity may act at any rate indirectly on 
mind through the body which ultimately affects the mind. 
The lecturer having replied briefly, the meeting adjourned at 
6.15 p.m. 
