Maturity. 187 



concerning the duty of another does not retard the 

 operation of the primal forces. 



Individual variability is a very difficult subject to 

 investigate, the forces operating to cause results 

 being so varied and often so obscure. For instance, 

 in many cases the male is more teachable than the 

 female. His tendency to change makes it easy 

 for him to accept changes which are forced upon 

 him. 



On the other hand, among certain animals, for 

 example the monkey, the females are said to learn 

 more readily than the males, — not because they 

 are more variable than the males, but because they 

 are less so. The monkey being so restless and 

 active, it has sometimes been found quite impossi- 

 ble to chain his attention to the lesson long enough 

 for him to learn it. His more docile partner, on 

 the contrary, will often pay attention, and there- 

 fore learn where he cannot be induced to do so. 



To all the conclusions drawn from life there 

 are apparent exceptions, the result of conditions 

 too numerous and too obscure to be at once de- 

 tected. There are certain great underlying laws, 

 however, which, like such laws in other realms of 

 knowledge, are immutable. 



They can be relied upon, and afford explana- 

 tion of what would otherwise be without the pale 

 of understanding. 



They are discovered by regarding the whole 

 mass of evidence, and their exceptions are only 



