Heredity and Environment 1 1 1 



came solely by heredity. To the scientific and logical 

 mind it must always have been apparent that the 

 particular manners and attributes of this class were 

 solely the result of environmental influences brought 

 to bear upon the child born into these privileged 

 families, and that any legislative capacity of which a 

 scion of any great house might give evidence was either 

 the result of very careful training in this particular 

 direction, or appeared as a " sport," just as great 

 ability or genius may appear in any class of the com- 

 munity. But the striking fact remains that great 

 literary ability and genius appear in less proportion 

 among the aristocracy than any other ; they are more 

 likely to appear in the middle or poorer classes. A few 

 examples will serve, such as Burns, Shakespeare, the 

 Elizabethan dramatists, Thomas Carlyle, Tennyson, 

 Keats, Wordsworth, and many others. Indeed, with 

 the exception of Lord Byron, it is difficult to recall men 

 of high literary attainment who have come from the 

 aristocratic class. The truth of the matter is that the 

 atmosphere of luxury in which they live tends to 

 produce a gradual loss of virility. The members of this 

 class tend to become effete, and die out sometimes in a 

 few generations. They require constant resuscitation 

 from the lower orders, from those who have remained 

 more in contact with nature, and are thus better fitted 

 to continue the species. This is evident every day 

 from the constant influx into the second Chamber of 

 the most brilliant intellects of the House of Commons. 

 They are sent to another place in order to reinvigorate 

 a chamber which would die of inanition if its legislative 

 capacity depended solely on hereditary gift. 



The same applies to the mere survival of this class 

 as a whole. A writer in the " Contemporary Review " 

 some years ago stated — apparently on the authority of 

 Burke's "Peerage" — that since 1840 thirty peers or 



