CHAPTER XIV 
HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 
Mistaken estimate of environment - All the characters of the race, both good 
and bad, are transmitted to the individual by his parentage - The function 
of environment is to assist or to hinder in development - Environment 
does not add unit characters . Modifications due to environment 
Mistaken estimate of environment. There has been handed 
down to us from our ancestors, by way of tradition, an altogether 
false estimate of the réle of environment in matters of evolu- 
tion and of life. This false estimate arose naturally as the result 
of the old-time assumption that all men were born alike, and 
whether they turned out to be good or bad depended entirely 
upon the influences by which they were surrounded. 
Now no one can overestimate the power of good opportu- 
nities or the danger of bad influences, but it is highly desirable 
that we understand the facts as they actually are. 
All the characters of the race, both good and bad, are trans- 
mitted to the individual by his parentage. We have seen 
already that every individual possesses all the characters of the 
race, because he can transmit them. Many of them may be 
undeveloped and invisible, and therefore we may not know that 
he possesses them till we see his progeny under favorable con- 
ditions for their development ; but we may be assured that they 
are there in some degree of intensity, if. they were known ever 
to have existed in the ancestry. Whether they develop or not 
will depend upon two factors : first, their inherent relative inten- 
sity ; and second, the accident as to whether conditions of life 
are favorable or unfavorable. 
I have been careful to say “transmitted by his parentage,” 
not ‘his parents.’’ They came through his parents, it is true, 
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