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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impression ou d'iliustration et en termimint par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la derniire image de cheque microfiche, seion Ie cas: Ie symbole -^> signifie "A SUIVRE", Ie symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiim^s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul ciichd, il est film6 d parvir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, at de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'imdges n6cessajre. Les diagrammes suivants illustrert la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 / '^iP^i? ^/i^t'^ ^A^^^ '/t«s>?i«s ■<9j\5"'?i«?^iS?'^is= tiSfWi^iHi' tl^'ifii' •S'i<*'i«S?''7»«''»i'?'»t«=^t«' "/iV"*!* WF Heredity and Environ BEGINNING WITH The Primordi BY D. V. BEACOCK, Brockville^ Ontario. I ^>^ ^u ^u «Wg» ^u ^u ^t* «&tfe ^i[» ^t<. ^f, ■&% ^te^ffe j^»<> ?&!<» ^^!<»^!fe j^f^* •aK'- >^'<' ^t^, it comi-„ in contact with small particles of inorganic matter ; it shapes itself so as to sur- round them, and the little particles are absorbed into its organism and they become a part of the living ce)' That function of the cell which enables it to absorb the latent forces of the inorganic matter unto itself, we call nutrition. If we watch it still further, we shall see that it increases in size, it grows. But this little cell we have been studying has yet a still brighter future : it has a latent force within that has thus far been unobserved. Growth is the balance of repair over waste, and when through assimilation of food into its sub- stance, this cell reaches a certain size, the force of cohesion is over- come by the release of the energy derived from food, and the cell •divides equally at the kernel or nucleus, the soft slimy protoplasm distributes itself around each nucleus as the two part companj', to grow and divide again in like manner ad infinitum. You here see the function of perpetual existence has been added — the func- tion of self-preservation, by making two living things out of one : the origin of parent and offspring, the beginning of repro- duction. The fundamental principles of life were embraced in these four functions: nutrition, growth, motion and reproduction. The living cell being completed, it has since been allowed to work out its own destiny. It began to unfold the mysterious possibilities that were concealed within its little structure, and the unnumbered ages have witnessed a mighty growth and development — a wonderful evolu- tion of life. Thus far we have learned four functions of the organic world — nutrition, growth, motion and reproduction. We find by experi- mentation that if we diminish the nutrition the growth diminishes and the motion lessens. If nutrition ceases, growth and motion both cease and the cell dies ; the two factors that were combined to form the living cell dissolve, and the organism ceases to be. Let us consider the relation these four attributes of organic life bear to one another. Since living organisms ran move, grow and repro- duce only by means or p.'itrition, it is evident that they depend upon nutrition for their continued existence. Therefore nutrition is essential to the other three functions, for without it the others would cease to act and the organism would die. But nutrition and growth cannot be acquired unless the organism exerts itself in selecting food, and subsequently in assimilating it. Thus we learn that without exercise, or the function of motion, the functions of nutrition and growth wi'I cjase. Exercise is, there- fore, absolutely essential to nutrition and growth. Without the judicious exercise of each function of an organism the other func- tions will not be normal ; with a little exercise of these funjtions it may simply continue to exist ; but when they cease to act, the organism must die. In life, as in death, decompositions are continually going on These decompositions are in kind not different, only during life the products of decomposition are removed and after death they re- main in the body and thus poison the individual cells — that is, so alter them that their conditions no longer fulfil the requirements of life. Scientific authorities everywhere are unanimous on this point : Omnia vivuni ex vivo (all life comes from life), or, as some put it, C.nne viviim ex ovum (all life comes from an egg), which is only another way of expressing it, as some animals are viviparous and others oviparous. The germ, in both animal and plant life, is itself simply a de- tached portion of the substance of a pre-existing living body. Life, therefore, can be produced from a living ancestor only. And the individual as it develops from the ^^^ cell epitomizes the history of the ancestral forms of its species. Scientifically it seems impossible man can come from such an extremely minute and apparently insignificant speck as the germ constituting all there is in his beginning. We sometimes wonder at the smallness of the o.^^ of the little humming-bird ; but even such a shell full of embryonic germs of human beings would be enough to people a city. Think of it ! Man, the lord of creation, yet in his beginning su^' l mere speck that it takes the most cultured eye to discover it a' the best microscope to ex- amine ! No wonder science stands jpalled and scientists sit by as pigmies. We must remember, ti >, that infinitesimal as is the human ^^g, it is not the germ ; this ii merely -he mass, a compara- tively crude mass. The germ withi ■• as with other eggs, is very 8 much smaller. We speak of the egg as a mere speck. What name shall we use to designate the smallness of this germ ? Yet, though so small, it is a complete, living, active, complex organization, a cluster of inspired molecules, wonderfully tenacious, and most mysteriously at work from the first of its impregnated life. Mole- cule aft-r molecule moves toward the surface of this mmute cluster, arranging themselves into three distinct tiers like trained soldiers. The potentiality that resides in this human ameba, that is, the ovum already vivified, lays the foundations of the three embryonal sheets so called, the epiblast, the hypoblast and the mesoblast, the enfoldings of which give us the entire system of primal parts. Every time that you have a reproduction of tissue it has to go through this same process : First, indiscriminate chaos ; then com- pletely digested food or peptones ; then protoplasmic mass ; then the embryonal corpuscles out of which all the tissues arise, as ex- emplified by all reproduction of structure where there is fracture of the tissues. If they are favorably situated they simply repeat the embryonal condition and series of changes, so that they are indis- tinguishable from the original material. Quite as mysterious is the fact that this minute cluster of molecules called a human germ — apparently a mere atom of jelly — not only comprises the beginning of all the vessels, tissues and organs of the matured body, but it brings forth the special char acteristics of the parents, holding the potentiality of father and mother wherein heredity is involved, the mental and physical pecu- liarities, the general bent of disposition, the special traits, tastes, preferences and idiosyncrasies, and often the particular marks, growths, and physical and mental expression. Shakespeare says : " There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will." Can anyone doubt it? Now, since we know fhat with judicious exercise and normal nutrition there will be normal growth and development, and con- sequently a normal body, we also know that with normal growth and development and a normal body, it naturally follows that there will be a normal reproduction ; for, if the ancestor is normal, the offspring, which is a part of it, must be normal. But if any function of the organism is varied from the normal, it follows that the others will vary from the normal. If there is abnormal exer- cise, there will be abnormal nutrition ; there being abnormal exercise and nutrition, there will be abnormal growth and develop- ment, and consequently an abnormal body. With all these abnor- mal conditions there will be abnormal reproduction ; for, if the ancestor is abnormal, the offspring, which is a part of it, must be abnormal, and we call this heredity. There is a mysterious principle in every living organism that enables it to select from its environment such ingredients as are necessary to produce the different tissues and organs peculiar to its own nature. Thus, if we plant a rose, or a lily, or a grain of corn in the same soil, and give them the same care, each one will select the ingredients from its environment that are essential to its growth and development, and with that subtle chemistry that is everywhere at work in the organic world, will produce its kind. This law holds good in the animal kingdom as well as amogg plants. If a number of animals of different species are taken in their infancy and subjected as nearly as possible to the same influences, it will be observed that each will develop into a distinct type, differing in almost every respect from the others. The observance of this law convinces us that the principle of each plant or animal, which enables it to preserve the peculiarities of its species, is an inherent principle which is part of its nature, in- herited from its ancestors, and by it given to its offspring. Thus we have a universal law which enables each individual to transmit to its offspring certain essentials that are common to all the individuals of its species. Yet there are differences or peculiarities that distinguish each member of a species from all others. Now, how are we to account for these individual differences ? This is the province of heredity and environment. It is a well-known fact that no two persons are identical. It is also a self-evident fact that identical causes will produce identical* effects, and that unequal causes will produce unequal effects. We know, too, that the latent powers, the latent possibilities that are concealed in each embryonic life, are variable quantities. We also know for a certainty that the influences which surround these individual lives — the en vironment — for moulding and shaping into a fixed state the plastic, latent, inherited predispositions are never identical. Therefore, in the question with which we have to deal, we have not only two unknown quantities, but two variable unknown quantities that are never the same or alike in two individuals — heredity and environ- ment. Now, since there are no two persons with identical predis- positions, what will be the result if we expose them to equal influences? Or the reverse : If we expose a number of perso.is of unequal predispositions to equal influences, the result must be unequal. If the environment is an uncongenial one, the person with an inheritance most approaching normal will possess the greatest power of resistance, and consequently will be the last to yield to malignant influences. The inverse of this is also true. Suppose, for instance, that all men were born equal, how long would they remain so if exposed to unequal influences? Dr. Weisman says : " We cannot, by excessive feeding, make a giant out of a dwarf, nor convert the brain of a fool into that of a Leib- nitz, or a Knnt, by means of much thinking." Spencer says : " There is no political alchemy by which you can get golden con- duct out of leaden instincts. The inherited differences of individuals are known as individual predispositions. These predispositions render the individual more or less susceptible tu exiernal influences. Heredity is therefore that law of nature whereby parents trans- mit to their offspring certain variable powers termed predispositions, which render their offspring more or less suueptible to their environ- 10 ment. Heredity is the condition within the body, and environment consists of the influences that act upon it from tvithout. To properly adjust these two factors is the rationale of individual development aijd organic evolution. To balance some tmvard evil with some purer influence acting from without, will enable our environment to correct our heredity. Every-day experience familiarizes us with the facts which are grouped under the name of heredity. Every one of us bears upon him obvious marks of his parentage, perhaps of remoter relation- ships. More particularly, the sum of tendencies to act in a certain way, which we call character, is often to be traced through a long series of progenitors and collaterals. So we may justly say, that this character, this moral and intellectual essence ofa man, does veritably pass over from one fleshly tabernacle to another, and does really transmigrate from generation to generation. In the new- born infant the character of the stock lies latent, and the ego is little more than a bundle of potentialities. But very early the.se become actualities. From childhood to age they manifest themselves in dulness or brightness, weakness or strength, vicious- ' ness or uprightness, and with each feature modified by confluence with another character, if by nothing else, the character passes on to its incarnation in new bodies. The Indian philosophers call this character karma. The mysterious manner in which heredity performs its wonders is not yet known. But Sir James Paget said to his class, " We should not throw away what we do not understand.'' And Hippocrates, the Grecian physician and philosopher, said, " You will, as a rule, find that the form of the body and disposition of the mind corre- spond to the nature of the country." The faculties of every animal depend on t.vo causes : First, heredity, or those that have been evolved from the type and become fixed by succession through a long series of ancestors ; secondly, adaptation, or those which are acquired by education, including everything that places the animal in harmony with its environment. Let us now take a retrospective view of ancestral inheritances. As we do so, you will find a sympathetic chord has been touched in our nature, for a most melancholy vision is presented to u.s — diseased bodies, dwarfed and deformed ; weak minds, so weak in fact that they cannot see truth, or if perchance they do see it, dis- tort it till it is no longer truth ; souls so black that they feast in darkness on the very dregs of perdition. What a vision to behold ! And do we call these men ? Men who were intended by the Great Creator of the universe to be the crowning piece of His handiwork ! What a fearful manifestation oi penalties for broken laws ! There are three causes that lead to all this depravity and misery, viz., an abnormal inheritance, an abnormal env'ronment, and the .improper use or abuse of our functions. If the fountain-head of the stream of life is not pure, we cannot expect the waters below II to be pure. If in the laboratory of nature we combine two parts of hydrogen and one of oxygen, we call the resulting compound water ; but, in the chemistry of life, if we combine two parts of immorality, which is moral depravity, one part of insanity, which is mental depravity, and two parts of disease, which is physical depravity, who can tell us what the product will be ? Do we not have this identical problem to deal with in heredity ? Every day of our lives we see this sad debauchery in chemistry, and the experiment- ation makes the world shudder to look at the Jearful results. If in the sacred laboratory of wedlock we combine these three ingredients, immorality, insanity, disease, we must remember that the laws of nature are never false. If the resulting compound is not as we would have it, it is because the proper ingredients were not used. We must ever remember that, being in the midst of conflicting influences, it is impossible for man to remain in a state of equilibrium. In the rebellion of influences, the stronger will be victorious, and after each conflict he is either raised one step higher in the scale of life or descends one step lower. By yielding to degrading influences, man's powers are weakened, and he is rend- ered less able to battle with the lurking foes awaiting him. By yielding to ennobling influences his powers are strengthened, and he is led to still greater conquests. If we would only make a wise selection of our environment, for, bear in mind, it is the circumstances of the environment from the cradle to the grave that determine our future destiny and a judicious use of our functions, we should always be found in the upward road to perfect development. But if we choose an abnormal environ- ment and aid it by functional inactivity or functional excesses, we shall find, as we are carried downwards in ihe road to degeneracy, that our only blessing will be ignorance and immornlity, poverty and disease. In all nature there are no evils without a remedy, if we but wisely seek it. So it is with evils of heredity. Nature furnishes poisons for the assassin ; she also furnishes antidotes for the physician. As we deal with disease so should we deal with crime, as we cannot isolate either from heredity. Children should be taught by wise mothers and fathers that ignorance of the laws of nature does not necessarily mean inno- cence in character ; it is by knowledge that we gain power. A well-known gentleman has said, one who is born with such con- genital incapacity that nothing can make a gentleman of him, is entitled, not to our wrath, but to our profoundcst sympathy. Those unfortunate victims who receive moral poisons from their ancestors, and those who receive bodies tainted with impurities, have no moral right whatever to entail upon helpless offspring the bitter fruits of their own ancestral sins. Such homes are the incubators for vice and moral depravity, and it is at their firesides that we find the congenital criminal. It may appear rather a drastic measure, but there should be a gulf put between congenital criminals and the rest of mankind by 12 means of compulsory celibacy, by isolating them from the world at large or by physiological annihilation,* which will render pos- terity safe from such contamination. The pure crystal streams of life should not be alio/'ed to be polluted by the streams that flow into them, otherwise the waters of both will become con- taminated. The ideal of a perfect physical nature is perfect health ; the ideal of a perfect mental nature is a normal brain ; the ideal of a perfect moral nature is a perfect conscience, and the ideal of a perfect being is the blending of these three into one symmetrical whole. A sound mind in a sound body should be the desire of all, and if we have lived in accordance with the natural laws ot our constitution, the termination of our lives will have a peaceful and happy ending, when, the intellect unimpaired and the other senses uninjured, the same nature which put together the several parts of the machine, takes her own created work to pieces. In many cases the weary pilgrimage of life is brought to a close with little apparent derangement of mental powers ; the final scene may be short and painless, and the phenomena of dying almost imperceptible. In such an ending the stock of nerve power is exhausted — the marvellous and unseen essence, that hidden mystery that man with Hil his wonderful powers of reasoning, that physiology with ali the aid that science has lent it, and the genius of six thousand yea has failed to fathom. In that hour is solved that secret, the mysi> y of which is only revealed when the book of life is t-iosed forever. Then we may hope, when nature draws the '^eil over the eye that is glazing on this world, at the same moment she is opening to some unseen but spiritual eye a vista, the confines of which are only wrapped by the everlasting and immeasurable bounds of eternity. Pope expresses this view of death most pathetically, when he says : " Vital spark of heavenly flame ! Quit, oh quit this mortal frame ! Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, Oh the pain, the bliss of dying ! Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife. And let me languish into life I " Hark ! they whisper; angels say Sister spirit, come away ! What is this absorbs me quite ? Steals my senses, shuts my sight, Drowns my spirits, draws my breath ? Tell me, my soul, can this be death ?" * .Sexiial perverts should not be allowed to procreate, and if the merciful act of asexualization was performed on all habitual Lriininals, it would not only relieve our tjaols of more than half of the inmates but would make them industrious and useful citizens. *l'.'-'i .l!.*' •;,'• % 'T'",c %''^:TT^:^^^^^^-ifS!!;\ wr- J -^^-j-^^ •^SB«t?^i«^ »' f 1 •_- ™