0)mpIimentary Banquet to Luther Burbank 



minute interview, the result of which is that I have been 

 plunged into the arena of child culture, and fantastic words 



have been put in my mouth which were never uttered, espe- 

 cially in placing environment so far above heredity. They 

 are on the average equal, in fact, life is a fluctuating 

 balance between these two lines of energ}\ Sometimes one 

 holds the reins, sometimes the other, but both are always in 

 action where there is life. 



"On this subject even many alleged scientists seem very 

 much muddled, and how can those who do not make it a 

 special study be expected to have well-defined ideas on it? 



"Biologically considered, each human being is only an 

 outside expression of the great tree of human life, and what 

 I shall say to you this evening is in the belief that any subject 

 is better understood when seen from several slightly difEercnt 

 points of view. 



"The great questions at stake are, Which has the more 

 influence in building the life of a child, heredity or . environ- 

 ment? And, Are acquired characters inherited? My own 

 observations prove that all characters that are inherited have 

 once been acquired, and that heredity is only the sum of all 

 these past environments, which if impressed on the heredity 

 long and strong enough in any specific direction will become 

 a part of heredity itself, and this new heredity, already 

 slightly changed by these late environments will have to meet 

 new environments as before, which will by repetition become 

 fixed in the ever new and constantly fluctuating heredity. 



"Did you ever think what is the most pliable and the 

 most precious product of all the ages? It is not pigs, mules, 

 books or locomotives, cotton or corn — but children. Children 

 cannot all be treated alike; each has his or her special in- 

 dividuality, which is the most valuable of all endowments. 



