CHARACTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4769, 9 October 1893, Page 1

CHARACTER.

|" B ? ABCANITJS.] The all-absorbing question o? the hoar among biologists is that, of the several functions of heredity and environment; the factors in|the formation of Characterphysical, mental, moral. Character, of conree, is not a mere accident, uor is it a mysterious something dropped on us at birth by fickle gods above. . It is in all its phaseß a true product of Evolution ; ever the resultant of the action and reaction of forceß exterior and interior to the individual. Each one of us iB the sum total of the impulses, good, bad and indifferent, impressed upon us from within and from ■without. Inexorable logic compels us to recognise the phenomena of Character, like • all other phenomena, as the product of the action of force on substance— physical force on material substance; mind force on mind substance— may be at bottom but ona vast inter-action cf the eternal staff of Jbeing. . . Now, if we look at a plant, an animal, or a man, we find two sorts of characteristics ■—one set possessed in common with other individuals, race characteristics; another set shared with no one, individual cl a :c---teristics. . If we try to discover the forces that p-<> at work moulding us, we find .they f*U roughly into two large classes; influences \ of environment, and influences of heredity, j Since all life cons ; srs essentially in the adjustment of the individual to his surroundings, it^Jß clear lhatthe character of the environment is reflected in the character of the individual. Polar hears are white; our native birds mostly of a sombre hue, corresponding to the prevailing forest tints. Fish kept in aquaria often acquire the tint of the bottom. The larvae of moths kept on a green Burface Lave become green instead of brown. If, moreover, we look closely at this influence of snrroundiDgs, we shall see that it controls thoEe little peculiarities that mark us off from others ; and tbat it is not our special environment, but something wider that determines our race-character. This something is heredity; calves are born j from cows and sheep from sheep. j Now, until quite recently, heredity was recognised aa most important in the formation o£ individual character also. It was thought that in Wb progress through life a man acquired qualities and characteristics from his surroundings; becoming, say, a champion rower, a parson or r drunk ; and that he handed down these qualities to his children, who were thus at the mercy of the parent's habit of life. Bub I think science is helping us to drive off thiß vampire tbat has so long prayed upon our race. Por this transmission of acquired characters has been doubted, questioned, at last categorically denied, and that on the best of evidence— the evidence oE direct experiment. , This revolution in our biological opinions las been wrought by Professor Weissmann, •vrhOi during- tha last dacade, has devoted himself to elaborating a theory of heredity; which, as it is the most complete and complex, ia also certainly the truest j approximation to the facts yet known. The striking thing about this theory is that part of it asserts the continuity of the germ-plasm. According to the profeesor, the individual is - made up of two substances, the body-substance and the germ-snbstance ; each of these remains perfectly distinct through lifp, and the body-Bubatance is incapable of influencing the germ substance; reproduction takes place by a portion of the germ substance of the parent being separated, but when ] separated it iB in the same stats ss it was ■when the parent wa3 born. It is evident from this that only those characters are transmitted that were impressed on the germ of the parent when he was bornj and that those . changes that have'tafeen place in his body during life are not Landed down at all. We know, in the case of plants, for instance, that the seeds of a poor plant will give just as good results as those of a healthy one. Breeders often keep a horse of good stock that has been injured, for they know he will not transmit liia lameness to his progeny. Thus the latest biological theory greatly curtails the function of heredity, Apart from this, however, it will be found there is very little evidence of direct transmission ; the apparent cases can | nearly all be explained by natural selection ; infection before birth ; or pecu- • liaritias of nurture; some of the rare remaining .cases must be due to chance coincidences. ' On the other hand is a vast mass of negative evidence, which means more than the absence of positive proof, for its existence is inexplicable on the assumption that acquired characters are transmitted. Sons brought up in their father's trades should show a rapid advance in efficiency, which ie, unfortunately, not the case ; and among the families of musicians we never knew any babea who could do without the regulation four hours a day scald practise. If, indeed, any acquired faculties were transmitted, it would' be those we all have in common. But though men have been learning to speak for at least 200,000 years, a child will remain inarticulate unle-s he is taught; the faculty is nover handed down. It is the same with ideas of morality— childron have to be taught right and wrong. Heredity, then, is impotent to transmit acquired characteristics. It remains to be seen to what extent his surrounding may influence an individual. In the first place, hie physical development depends obviously on a sufficient supply of nutrient material, adequate opportunity for exercise, and favourable sanitary conditions. A child, however well born, cannot withstand squalor, starvation and bad sanitation. A weakly child, carefully nurtured, attains to robust manhood. . And this iB equally true of moral character. Take six children in the case of each of whom the parental influence is neither very good nor very bad. Place three where they have- strict morala enforced and are never idle. Place the other three in the slnms of Whitechapel; return to them after ten yeare; you ■will find thr,ee useful citizens sound of wind and limb; untainted by ( moral leprosy, you will find a gaol bird, a loafer, and a drunk.' The difference is due to environment. And the influence is all important. For it is m our power to create moral environment. Here mental suggestion comes to our aid; the moral ait of persuading an individual tbat he i 3 or may be other than he iB; to convince a child he is incapable of evil and capable of good, in order to render him actually so ; to make him think himself morally free ; that the idea of liberty may progressively realise itaelf. The value of mental suggestion is only" just being realised, but it should be the basi3 Qi^<all our education; no lesa the basis of our treatment of the criminal — a kind word, a generous hand-shake of an enthusiastic young lawyer gavo a great thief a moral impulse that lasted a life-time. Surprisingly fewcriminals are born to vice. So children, when rescued early, seldom lapse into vice. How many vices indeed are produced not by ths fatality of heredity, bnt by ill-advised

{ education. Only let the true value of mental suggestion become thoroughly appreciated, and half the disease, mental and I moral, of our race wilj. be swept away. } The progress of science only strengthens .. the dictum of philosophy: — "As a man j thinkeih so is he." Thought is formative, j and in that it is so lies the larger hope of \ ecience. For we can teach men to think ( as they should, and so enable them to live j aa they should. Heredity is not the irresistible controlling force that Ibaen makes it. That the sins of the, fatberß be visited upon the children is only one more exploded canon of ignorance. And, more, if man is free at all he is frae to" choose the character of his surroundings: And in thus choosing what forceß shall play on him, a.nd fashion him it may be anew, he shows himself veritably in dominion. Do not tell him he is worm-eaten from birth. Do not tell him he carries in his forehead tb.3 wlut& leprosy "of eia. Do not tell him the falsehood, sorrow and de3pair ; the guilt and bitter shame of centuries, is slowly gathering round him, waiting to crush him down to hell. Tell him he is free ! free ! and his life his, for the making or the marring of it ; his thought infinitely creative of the ideal; his ideal for overworking out into the real; then neither science, philosophy, • nor the dead chains of theology will bind him to the past. It matters not how straight the gate, How charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.