September 8, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



301 



eluding the working people, such a wrong 

 impression could not prevail. The Amer- 

 ican's recognition of the fact that culture 

 brings freedom with it, and his realization 

 that, in a country where every one has the 

 choice of sinking or swimming, a good edu- 

 cation is a necessity for him who will hold 

 himself above water in the fierce struggle, 

 have led to the expenditure of great sums 

 for public schools, for advanced education 

 of all sorts, for museums, collections, labo- 

 ratories, and the like, with results as good 

 or better than those attained in Germany. 

 Waldeyer, impressed with American prog- 

 ress in this regard formerly, confesses him- 

 self surprised at the advances made in the 

 last decade. They surpass, he says, all 

 expectations. "One needs no special pro- 

 phetic gift to predict that, in fifty years, 

 the United States will, as regards good 

 arrangement, ease of use and wealth of 

 what is offered, far outdo Germany." 



Before attempting to answer the ques- 

 tion, 'With all this liberal provision in the 

 way of making arrangements for scientific 

 work, has anything already been achieved 

 in America?' Waldeyer turns to an inter- 

 mediate consideration, to a general discus- 

 sion, namely, of the factors which permit 

 and foster the development of unusual men. 

 The relative potency of heredity and en- 

 vironment is considered. The basis for 

 any special capacity, be it bodily or mental, 

 is an inborn gift of nature ; it can not be 

 increased in a given organization beyond 

 the limits permitted by that organization. 

 A mathematician can not be made of a man 

 whose brain has not the necessary endow- 

 ment therefore, any more than a singer can 

 be developed if the individual be too de- 

 fective in temporal lobe, ear or larynx. 

 Here and there such natural capacities 

 appear hereditarily in families, but as 

 often or oftener the reverse appears to be 

 the case. And it is not wealth or social 



position which produces these extraordi- 

 nary capacities ; on the contrary, capable 

 heads of the first rank emerge just as often 

 from among the masses; they come from 

 those in poor circumstances as frequently 

 as from families that have long enjoyed 

 conditions of preferment — an illustration 

 of the beneficent and compensative justice 

 of nature ! That certain races are pre- 

 ferred can not be denied— the history of 

 science teaches it. They are those races 

 whose individuals, along Mdth a healthy 

 and harmonic development of the body as 

 a whole, possess the largest brains relative 

 to the body-mass. Climate, using the word 

 in its broadest sense, here, doubtless, plays 

 a part. Neither the prevailing darkness 

 of the poles nor the flood of sunlight at the 

 equator is suitable ; it is a temperate cli- 

 mate in countries manifoldly broken up 

 into land and water, where the soil is fer- 

 tile, and the whole gamut of seasons is run 

 through, which must be designated as most 

 favorable. In such a climate men must 

 work, but the work rewards and strength- 

 ens. Not that this climatic factor works 

 directly; rather its -action is such that it 

 gives rise to strong, healthy men with su- 

 perior brains. On the other hand, it is 

 just as true that culture already attained 

 and institutions of favorable influence al- 

 ready established, such as superior schools, 

 well-organized and liberally endowed li- 

 braries and provision for the interchange 

 of mental products, often help to permit 

 intellectually important men to appear. 

 As of two equally well-organized muscles, 

 that becomes more efficient w^hich is given 

 the opportunity to exercise and test itself; 

 so of two equivalent brains, the one which 

 is offered the more abundant and better in- 

 tellectual nourishment and the greater op- 

 portunity for exercise will yield the higher 

 product. Many a highly endowed head 

 has failed to become fully active, owing to 



