August 23, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



229 



sparse remnants of his scanty meal, into 

 the noble, intelligent dog that has become 

 man's companion; above all, if my work 

 can aid ever so little in bettering the condi- 

 tion of my fellow man, either in the present 

 or in future generations ; if these things be 

 true there is every incentive to do what I 

 may in the accomplishment of these things. 

 "Who can say that the doctrine of the 

 descent of man from the lower animals 

 degrades him? On the contrary, it shows 

 what man has done even with the slight 

 enlightenment of the past, and it points to 

 the heights to which he may reasonably 

 hope to climb in the future. 



I believe in heredity, that like breeds 

 like, and the good or bad in the parent will 

 pass on to the child. This belief in heredity 

 does not lead me to spend my time in 

 studying ancestral records. No, I let the 

 past take care of itself. It is gone and can 

 not be changed. I like to think that all my 

 good impulses come from my ancestors, and 

 that my bad ones are due to acquired sins. 

 But for the great lesson taught by our 

 knowledge of heredity we should look to 

 the future. Generations to come may make 

 inquiry as to their ancestors, and then they 

 may mean you or me. The young man of 

 to-day who gives himself to drink and 

 venery is preparing himself to be the father 

 of degenerates, imbeciles and insane. That 

 degeneracy is inherited there can be no 

 doubt. Statistics collected in widely sepa- 

 rated parts of the world show this to be 

 true. Fortunately, good qualities are 

 equally inheritable. Could there be a 

 higher incentive to any one to keep himself 

 clean physically and morally than this? 

 If so, I have failed to hear of it. Science 

 teaches us that our actions and even our 

 words are parts of the environment in 

 which those about us live and may influ- 

 ence them for good or ill, and may live 

 through their effects upon others, and 



through them on generations yet unborn. 

 Tea, more, our thoughts, even though un- 

 spoken, have their part in shaping our- 

 selves. They constitute a part and an im- 

 portant part of our environment. "Was 

 there ever a higher incentive to righteous- 

 ness in deed and purity in mind than this ? 

 "Whether I shall do a certain thing or not 

 should not be determined by hope of future 

 reward or by fear of future punishment, 

 but by its effects. Some of the most atro- 

 cious deeds recorded in history have been 

 performed under the belief that religion 

 and God were being thereby served. Such 

 were the tortures of the Inquisition. 



The doctrine of evolution teaches that 

 environment is a powerful factor in the 

 modification and improvement of species, 

 and experiments upon plants and animals 

 have confirmed these teachings so repeat- 

 edly and so positively that no sane man 

 can question it. My philosophy, therefore, 

 points out a way in which I can render a 

 real and lasting service. I will therefore 

 give my best endeavor to improve the con- 

 ditions under which men live. This should 

 be one of the strongest motives in the work 

 of the scientist. Indeed, it should actuate 

 the deeds of all intelligent men and women. 

 The old Latin proverb: "Salus populi 

 suprema lex est, ' ' which I should translate : 

 "The welfare of the people should be our 

 highest concern," is a good motto under 

 which we should live and labor. 



Ignorance is bad environment and there- 

 fore we should labor to dispel it. Igno- 

 rance should be replaced by knowledge, 

 and this shall make us free and strong. 

 That knowledge which we can use is the 

 best. As one of England's historians has 

 said: 



The knowledge which we can use is the only 

 real knowledge; all else hangs like dust about the 

 brain or dries up like rain drops off the stones. 



