Parent and Child Vol. III. | Page 4

speculation."
Acquirements of parents during their lifetime, according to the best
authorities, are not transmitted to any noticeable extent to their children.
This appears to be due to the fact that the cells concerned in
reproduction are set aside during embryonic life and from then on are
practically unmodified by the succeeding development and experiences
of the parent. In fact, during the lifetime of the individual, the germ
cells are so completely isolated from the growing organism that nothing
but nourishment in the shape of blood can possibly reach them, hence
they can be affected only by a vitiated or poisonous blood supply. It
seems to be true, therefore, that only the old, deeply-impressed traits,
capacities, or racial characters can be inherited. This is, no doubt, the
chief secret of the power of heredity to breed true.
It has been a popular belief that if parents acquired skill in music,
mathematics, or special ability in any other particular that such ability
could be imparted to their children, but in the light of the above facts,
this appears to be impossible. Of course, if such ability is a slumbering,
inborn trait of either parent, or of some immediate ancestor, the ability
might be transmitted.
It is reasonable to suppose, however, that any acquired trait or ability of
the parent, if practised and continued steadily by his children and their
descendants for many generations, will come to be an inborn trait or
character capable of being transmitted. Otherwise, it is extremely
difficult to understand how the human family can progress and become
permanently improved.
_Galton's_ law is believed to be approximately correct. It may be stated
as follows: Children inherit on the average one-half their characteristics
from parents, one-fourth from grandparents, one-eighth from
great-grandparents, and so on in ever diminishing ratio to remote
ancestors. But owing to the fact that some inheritable traits or

characters are likely to be dominant and others recessive, Galton's law
must be modified, so that only under the most favorable conditions can
it be regarded as reliable.
Owing to the fact that the primary elements or traits of character
contributed by each parent may combine in many ways in the embryo,
considerable variation in the children of the same parents is
inevitable--one child may resemble the father, another the mother, and
yet another some near ancestor. Variability is, therefore, the rule among
offspring in the same family, and in some instances it is decidedly
pronounced, but in all cases, the variation must be confined to the
possible combinations of characters transmitted from parents and
ancestors.
The law of regression represents the tendency of the extreme elements
of the race constantly to seek the middle or mediocre level. For
example, the children of superior parents are not likely to be so brilliant
as their parents, and the offspring of inferior people are somewhat
better than their parents. This "drag of the race" or "pull of ancestors" is
no doubt due to the fact that selection has never been practiced, hence
the two-thousand nearby ancestors were most likely an average lot of
people, and the "pull" is from the higher towards the lower level. The
"pull" is a help to the children of inferior parents but is a handicap to
the superior.
If long-continued selection of parents were practiced, the regression
would disappear and the "pull" would be upward. Selection of parents
possessing superior elements of character and the prevention of the
unfit and the criminal from propagating their kind, seem the surest hope
we have of producing a permanently higher type.
It is well known that the extremes of the race are less fertile than the
means; and since fertility is the chief factor in fixing the type, in the
absence of selection and repression, the race appears doomed to remain
at the dead level of mediocrity. The tremendous significance of this fact
is that the welfare of the race--the gradual substitution of a superior for
the present mediocre type--rests absolutely upon the willingness and
ability of the superior class to do their full share in propagating the

race.

LESSON II
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What is the principle of heredity as discovered by Mendel? Explain
by illustrating how it works out in plants and animals.
2. What practical application is made of this law in producing better
seed and better breeds?
3. Illustrate Galton's law.
4. What significance has these laws in the improvement of the human
race?
5. Account for the variability of children in the same family.
6. Why are some children inferior, some superior to their parents?
7. Illustrate the "pull of ancestors."
8. How might this "pull" be made upward instead of downwards, as it
now seems to be?
9. What sacred responsibility rests upon superior people to propagate
the race?
10. What are