276 
HAROLD’S DISCUSSIONS. 
each of these heads, just enough to illustrate the idea. 
If space had permitted, a large number could have 
been cited, but the interested reader can hnd them 
readily accessible in more pretentious works. 
Heredity is the unchangeable force which holds 
on to ancestral traits ; environment is a variable influ¬ 
ence which antagonizes heredity and in time con¬ 
quers it. “ It is easier to weigh an invisible planet 
than to measure the force of heredity in a grain of 
corn,” says President Jordan, for the laws of planet¬ 
ary motion are known and have been reduced to 
mathematics. Frequently, as already stated, the vic¬ 
tory seems complete, when suddenly the offspring 
reverts to some ancestral trait, showing that the 
heredity germ was not destroyed but lying latent, 
only waiting a weak link in the chain of environ¬ 
ment to reassert itself. 
These two forces must be reckoned with in the 
human family. Man has the ability to select his 
environment—intensify one line, and weaken or en¬ 
tirely remove the objectionable. Thus it may be 
said that with him environment is the most signifi¬ 
cant factor. Society, education, religion may become 
levers to lift him, to a very great extent, above his 
undesirable inheritances. 
On this subject Mr. D. Kerfoot Shute says: 
‘‘ Every man is born into the world with a certain 
physical constitution, and therefore with a given 
temperament—with certain passions, with a power of 
judgment, with a certain strength of will. If the 
power of his will be not equal to the strength of his 
