THE METHOD OF EVOLUTION 23 



infant it is at a maximum ; hence his development 

 into adult man. In the old man it is at a minimum ; 

 it is almost lost. When nothing is acquired no 

 acquirement can be transmitted. The same argu- 

 ments apply to mind. At birth the infant's mind is 

 a blank. His subsequent mental acquirements are 

 immense. Every single thing contained within the 

 memory of man, every single word of a language, for 

 instance, is an acquirement. But when are the con- 

 tents of a parent's mind transmitted to the child ? 



Again, a man is capable of becoming a parent at 

 any time between extreme youth and extreme old 

 age ; a woman from the age of thirteen or fourteen 

 till nearly fifty. Between the birth of the first 

 child and the last such an individual changes vastly. 

 Under stress and tear of circumstances, under the 

 slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, all sorts 

 of acquirements are made. The body becomes 

 vigorous, and then feeble ; the mind grows mature, 

 and then senile. He or she grows wrinkled and 

 bowed, and perhaps very wise, or perhaps much 

 the reverse. Yet no one viewing a baby show, a 

 children's party, or an assembly of adults, of whom 

 he has no previous knowledge, can say which is 

 the child of the youthful and which of aged parents. 

 Apparently, therefore, the whole of the parent's 

 acquirements have no effect on the child. Surely 

 no evidence could be stronger. 



