HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 175 
They do not belong with civilization, and civilization must elimi- 
nate them as fast as possible, first, by the control of degenerates ; 
and second, by making conditions so good as to reduce the 
development of these uncivilized characters to a minimum. 
This principle is well understood by farmers in dealing with 
animals and crops. They know that a well-bred animal needs 
good conditions, good feed, good shelter, and good advantages 
generally. They know that good varieties need good soil and 
favorable climate. 
They know, too, that ill-bred animals will not respond to good 
feed and care, and that poor varieties will not become good by 
raising them on a good soil. The principle is universal, that 
the nature of the race is fixed by its breeding. Its personality 
may be helped or hindered, but cannot be created by its 
environment. 
Modifications due to environment. If two individuals could 
be born alike, but grow to maturity in very different environ- 
ments, the two would look very different. These differences 
are the modifications due to environment or the conditions 
and opportunities of life. 
These modifications, we have seen, are due to the fact that 
any given environment is favorable to the development of 
certain characters and unfavorable to others. Thus a hot 
country is favorable to the development of spiny growth and 
harshness of leaf, but unfavorable to the growth of wool. 
Two children are born with equal talent for painting. The 
one lives with artists all his life, the other with commercial 
people. Manifestly, the one will most likely be an artist and 
the other will most likely learn trade, unless, as in rare cases, 
the instinct is so strong as to be overpowcring. 
In one sense, therefore, all living matter is modified by and. 
according to the conditions of life, but in another sense it is 
not, for no character can develop, however favorable the sur- 
roundings, unless the faculty was first inherited ; that is to say, 
the environment cannot supply lacking unit characters. 
