MENTALITY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 27, 1 February 1929, Page 6

MENTALITY

PAEENT TO CHILD

PROBLEM OF INHERITANCE

The results of recent research into the subject of heredity were summarised by Professor "W. B. Benham, of Otago University, at a public lecture given'at Auckland under the auspices of the Science Congress. The problem of the inheritance of mental qualities was thought .to have been settled more than half a century ago by tho work of Sir Francis Galton, who concluded that mental qualities are inherited in the same manner and in tho same degree as are physical characteristics. But in recent years the whole subject of heredity has been attacked from a now standpoint. ' ■ . As a preliminary to examining tho question of the assumed inheritance of" mental qualities Professor' Benham dealt, -with tho inheritance of bodily characteristics, and described some of the discoveries that have been mado of the means by which these are transmitted from parent to offspring. The fact that offspring tended to resemble the parent was so universal and familiar that its significance was overlooked. Tho wonder of it and of such! principles of heredity as those discovered by Mendel was lucidly expounded with the aid of a series of lantern slides.

"When mental qualities were considered at once tremendous difficulties were met with. There was no analogy to work with, since mental qualities in lower animals were either non-existent or had not been adequately studied from this point of viow. Instincts formed no basis on which to build in assessing tho hereditary nature of mental qualities in mau. Tracing the pedigrees of several distinguished men, the lecturer drew attention to the extremely, varied type of ability exhibited by tho members of one family. He noted also that marriage into rich families seemed to have been followed by expression of ability.

In addition to the pedigree showing ability there were also those showing the apparent inheritance of feeble, mindedness and the terrible results of the marriage of such people. Wag it true, he asked, that these pedigrees, whether of the talented or of the mentally deficient, were really illustrations of the strength of heredity? Was it not arguablo that these mental qualities, whether good or bad, were, to say the least, very largely the result of environment and opportunity? In the case of mental ability the evidence was by no means conclusive for heredity, if was not even, negative. A THEORY CHALLENGED. Iv his opinion it was not proved to the satisfaction of biologists that mental qualities are inherited "in the same manner and same degree as are man's physical characteristics." The physical characteristics of man, as of the lower, animals, were the resultant of tha interaction of hereditary and environmental stimuli, and so it was with mental qualities. If it were possible to convince statesmen that environment was more likely to be the cause of feeblemindedeness and mental deficiency, then a way was pointed out whereby] the expenditure of money in removing this cause might relieve society of this menace more quickly than by waiting for generations to improve the stanr dard. The last Government, under Mr. Coates, should receive great credit for; having placed upon the Statute Book two measures which, if carried out aS intended, would go a long way toward improving these conditions. Tha Town Planning Act should raise the standard of health and the conditions of life and therefore of the mental development of the people generally. Tho Act relating to mental defectives would, if tactfully and sympathetically applied, do much to help the border line cases at an age when it was quite possible that suitable and wise methods of education, removal from tainted surroundings and, so' on would inako for tho happiness and prolonged usefulness of many who would otherwise become unsocial and be a burden on the State.