238 A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



said : " Whatever, therefore, the moral and intellectual progress 

 of men may be, it resolves itself, not into a progress of natural 

 capacity, but into a progress, if I may say so, of opportunity, that 

 is, an improvement in the circumstances under which that capacity 

 after birth comes into play. Here again, then, lies the gist of the 

 matter. The progress is one not of internal power, but of external 

 advantage. The child born in a civilised land is not likely, as 

 such, to be superior to one born among barbarians, and the 

 difference which ensues between the acts of the two children will 

 be caused, so far as we know, solely by the pressure of external 

 circumstances, by which I mean the surrounding opinions, know- 

 ledge, associations, in a word, the entire atmosphere in which the 

 two children are respectively nurtured." 



Mill and Buckle, though unacquainted with the doctrine of 

 evolution, were surely right. The ancient Greeks and Romans 

 were certainly of extraordinary mental prowess, but it is more than 

 probable that they surpassed our less remote ancestors only 

 because the environment in which they lived was more favourable 

 than the mediseval to the acquirement of fit mental traits ; because, 

 in their free, intellectual atmosphere, they were trained to the 

 performance of intellectual feats, which were impossible to the 

 fettered minds of our forefathers, who could hardly achieve 

 greatness, except as priests or warriors, or as painters, sculptors, 

 architects, musicians, or as other labourers in such arts as served 

 the grandeur of the Church or the Throne. The splendour of the 

 Greek and Roman achievements, therefore, does not constitute a 

 proof that the Greeks and Romans were splendidly endowed, but 

 only that the traits which they acquired from their progenitors 

 enabled them to use their endowments splendidly. In judging 

 of the mental capabilities of a people as a whole, as in judging of 

 physical powers, it is safer to take as a test their corporal 

 structures, their bodies and brains, rather than their mental and 

 physical feats, for whether these latter be great or little depends 

 on circumstances which may be favourable or the reverse. Had 

 the Troglodytes received the same mental training as the Greeks, 

 it is possible or probable, since their brains were large, that they 



