608 IMPROVEMENT OF LIVING THINGS BY MAN 



and airplanes, is called our social inheritance. Our lives may then 

 be said to be influenced by three factors : training or social inher- 

 itance, environment or what we come in contact with, and heredity 

 or what we are. It is self-evident that a handicap such as poor 

 health or lack of education would play an important part in one's 

 success or failure in life. Some men have become great in spite of 

 handicaps, but it was because then heredity was such that they 

 could not be denied success. Great men and great minds have 

 stood out in spite of the most unfavorable environments, witness 

 Abraham Lincoln and William Shakespeare. The list could be 



multiplied indefinitely. There 

 are other factors at work be- 

 sides those of environment 

 winch produce great men. 

 Sometimes the heredity of 

 such men is easily followed, for 

 certain distinguished families 

 have held a place in the world 

 A here^citx b for a number of generations. 



ABC is a triangle representing the three factors The 1'eaSOnS for the Slldden 



emergence from obscurity to 



greatness, as in the case of 



Napoleon or Lincoln, is not 



so easy to understand, but we may be sure that heredity played 



a very large part. 



People today have a chance to live longer than their ancestors 

 because their environment is better. The sanitary conditions are 

 much improved and disease germs are being controlled by provid- 

 ing the race with the best environment possible. 



which affect a person's life. If one's training and 

 environment are changed and heredity remains 

 the same, a different surface is made possible. 



PROBLEM I — HOW MAY ENVIRONMENT AFFECT PLANTS AND 



ANIMALS ? 



Demonstration 1. How may gravity affect growing seedlings? 



Grow radish or mustard seeds in a pocket garden placed on edge, 

 until the roots are a half inch long ; then turn it on another edge and 

 examine again after 24 hours. Repeat after another 24 hours. 



Which part of the root grows down each time the garden is turned? 



