180 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



its effects would have been seen in that large number of madmen 

 and idiots. 



Although theorizers have exaggerated the influence of heredity, it 

 cannot be denied that it plays a part in the genesis of temperament 

 and character, and here we have a warrant for the employment of 

 every means that will favor the transmission of the most desirable 

 aptitudes. In ancient Rome, women of the highest distinction, who 

 were respected by all, imported into another family, with their hus- 

 bands' consent, their superiority of blood. Quintus Hortensius, the 

 friend and admirer of Cato, having failed to win his daughter Portia, 

 asked for his wife Marcia, and Cato gave her to him. The grossness 

 of such customs shocks our finer sense, but its explanation is to be 

 found in the anxiety of a Roman head of a family to insure for his 

 descendants the highest grade of masculine vigor, and the most solid 

 virtues. 



Under the old constitution of society in France, the tenure of high 

 offices and trusts, and the following of some special profession by one 

 family from generation to generation, had their rise and bases in the 

 unconscious observation that aptitudes are hereditary ; and M. Sedillot 

 regrets that the revolutions of modern society have done away with 

 this wholesome tradition, which, in every grade of the social scale, 

 morally constrained the son to follow in his father's steps. This point 

 must not be overlooked by races which care for self-improvement. 



Another point for such races to bear in mind, and one of readier 

 application, is the necessity of a sound and enlightened system of edu- 

 cation. On this topic, those who have the future of France at heart, 

 have but one opinion, viz., that the coming generations must be in- 

 vigorated by giving more prominence to bodily exercise, and by ex- 

 empting children from employments injurious to health. They have no 

 thought of interfering with classical studies or the humanities, which 

 will continue to be the chief element in moral culture ; the only ques- 

 tion is, whether the young could not acquire the treasures of Latinity 

 and Hellenism in less time, and bestow some little study on matters 

 of modern interest. There are sundry branches in which they now 

 obtain no instruction, but which they might study much to the advan- 

 tage of their intellectual development. This is not the place to enforce 

 this argument ; but it does seem unquestionable that, by means of a 

 thorough system of education, proceeding on new principles, we might 

 be able, if not exactly to change the whole character of a people, as 

 Leibnitz thought, at least to do away with most of the influences 

 which, for want of suitable training, cause them to fall into decay. 



The conviction that it is possible to counteract the dangerous im- 

 pulsions of heredity and to triumph over the tyrannies of Fate — at least 

 to acquire a moral superiority over them — is a most wholesome one to 

 spread abroad and to bring into acceptance. A strong will is in itself 

 a power. Even though it were not so easy a thing as it is, to prevail 



