DECEMBER 24, 1897. ] 
good remained in the veins of Europeans 
to enable their race to rise to its present, 
very moderate, level of natural morality.” * 
Dr. Galton implies that a tendency to char- 
ity, meditation or to the cultivation of litera- 
ture is an inborn and transmissible char- 
acter, whereas they are, in fact, acquired. 
A Quaker’s child, for example, reared by 
North American or West African savages 
shows none of the gentle altruistic nature 
of his progenitors, and obviously shows no 
literary tendencies. The child of a blood- 
thirsty and immoral savage may be made 
sanctimonious to an even unpleasant de- 
gree, as has happened under the influence 
of missionaries in certain Polynesian is- 
lands, where by act of the native legislature 
flirtation is now a legal offence. The chil- 
dren of aborigines have done exceedingly 
well,as compared to Europeans, in the Aus- 
tralian government schools. The Church, 
therefore, may have brutalized society in 
the Dark Ages, by its influence on the char- 
acters acquired by the individuals compris- 
ing it; for instance, by inculcating celibacy 
it may have prevented people who had ac- 
quired the best characters from having 
families, and so passing on their acquired 
excellencies, like language or even property, 
to descendants. Butsince mere chance, not 
innate tendencies, must have determined in 
each case the inclination or disinclination 
towards charity, etc., the Church cannot 
have selectod any particular type, and there- 
fore cannot have caused real evolution or 
retrogression. 
It is, of course, impossible for obvious 
reasons to prove of a particular person with 
(for instance) charitable inclinations that in 
a different environment he would have ac- 
quired different inclinations. But what 
cannot be proved of the individual can be 
proved of the race, which is but an aggre- 
gate of individuals. If my definitions are 
correct, innate inclinations or tendencies 
_ ¥ Ibid, p. 343, 344. 
SCIENCE. 
945 
are of the nature of instincts, and these can 
arise only very slowly under the prolonged 
action of Natural Selection, and, if they 
disappear, can do so only equally slowly 
after cessation of selection. But consider 
how rapidly a race (e.g., the Japanese) may 
change its characteristics. Consider, in par- 
ticular, the enormous change, as expressed 
in theresultant civilization, which occurs in 
the character of a race when it changes 
its religion. Compare the mental charac- 
ters of the races of Asia Minor and North 
Africa as they changed successively from 
Pagan to Christian and from Christian to 
Mohammedan. Consider how much Pagan, 
Mohammedan and Christian negroes differ 
in their mental characters. Consider how 
closely Mohammedans of all races resem- 
ble one another mentally. Consider how in- 
distinguishable mentally are Catholic Teu- 
tons from Catholic Celts in Ireland, and 
how markedly they differ both from the 
Protestant Teutons and the Protestant 
Celts of Great Britain. I have, however, 
dealt somewhat fully with this matter of 
religion elsewhere,* and my space here is 
limited. Still I am in hopes that the little 
Ihave said proves that any tendency to; 
wards charity, etc., is wholly acquired and 
not inborn. 
Again Galton says: “ The ablest race of 
which history bears record is unquestion- 
ably the ancient Greek, partly because 
their masterpieces in the principal depart- 
ments of intellectual activity are still un- 
surpassed, and in many respects unequalled, 
and partly because the population that 
gave birth to the creators of those master- 
pieces was very small. Of the various 
Greek sub-races, that of Attica was the 
ablest.”{ He further says: ‘The average 
ability of the Athenian race is, on the low- 
est possible estimate, nearly two grades 
higher than our own—that is, about as 
_ **The Present Evolution of Man,’ p. 188-196. 
+ ‘ Hereditary Genius,’ p. 329. 
