The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-05-22
THE PROFESSIONAL CLUB.
DIR. DRAPER's THOUGHTFUI, PAPER
ON HEREDITY

DIR. DRAPER's THOUGHTFUL PAPER
| On HEREDI1Y.
The Scientific, the Evolutionary, the
Moral and the Religious view-A Most
Admirable Discussion that all Ought to
| Read.
The closing meeting for the season of the
professional club Monday evening assembled
delightful party Of about 80, including the
| invited guests. The career of the club is a
cumulative one; every paper 1t has seems to
be the best, every discussion the most inter-
esting. and the social features of this second
Ladies' Night" In their heartness and lack
OF stiffness surpassed even those of last wear.
happy. as that occasion was. The supper
served by Landlord Jeffts was generally and
deservedly praised.
DR.. Draper was the essayist, bis subject be-
ing g"C@sar's Image and Superscription, ,"and
tne line he was to pursue had been the object
OF much speculation. 1t was Heredity,
topic on which the doctor is entirely at home
and the paper ih the comprehensive care with
which the best scientific thought of the age
was presented, the analytic fulIness with
which the elements of the great problems
were brought out, the studious fairness with
winch opposing theories were treated ,and the
reVerent recognition of the alEmeaning prob.
lens involved can only be described as simply
masterful. The paper was one Of such com
Dactment that to abstract Is only to mutil.
ate 1t, and though we give large part of It
verbatim, 1t does less than Justice to the doc.
tors thoughts In imDOrts ut )lnts.
All evolutionary changes, the essayist said
are accomplished slowly. Time is of little
account. Every individual born into the
world commences as every other one has.
Few people profit by the experiences of others
unless they have previously proited BY their
own. AS there is no royal road to learning,
all have to do their own climbing. Natural
endowment varies In different individuals. 1t
gives one start or 1t cumbers one with a
load. Every individual has heritage, good
or bad. Every one has his progenitor and Is
tne image or his prototype, or perhaps more
correctly the composite repre- sentative of his
ancestry as whole.
To illustrate how little history which Is
mainly the record of rulers and individual
leaders, can aid In the study, the doctor
gave rapid review of the Caesars. from Jul.
lus the founder, and the great Augustus to
Nero, then through the legionary emperors and
the Flavian family. All we can learn of them
or by survey of such lines of sOveregns as
the Louis Of France, the Charleses of Swe-
den, or the Phillips Of Spain, shows that we
must 90 underneath the pages of history for
an Intimate knowledge OF the laws of heredi-
ty. Histology rather than history must be the
domain of our research.
Ihe t,'st form of heridity In the indiviG-
ual Is the human type itself. In this respect
there Is no departure; or has been none with
IN the range OF human knowledge. Among
those created In the Divine likeness however,
variations are SO great that there are distinc-
ton dl1ferences between the multitude of In
oiViauaIs, SO marked as to make each one
olstlngulsbable from every other. Nothing
IS more wonderful than this wide diversity In
individual distinctions. it runs throughout
nature. In tne human species we see its IL
In -. 81
OF race. The five great races which embrace
the population OF the globe, have all Imprint
ed upon them certain physiognomical pecu.
liarltes, and certain differences of complex
ion that seem to have changed little In all the
centuries of human history. Next to races,
ties, and these sub-types OF races preserve
their disti1ctiye features aImosa e sndnringy =.
posed that the denjzens Of the most pCpuIoIs
centres OF the civilizedwOrld, w hose surround
Ings are subject TO greatest change, and
whose relations with those of other nations
extend to fnter.Lnarriage, would In very
ew generations have their ancestral marks
'ubbed out; but even under these circum.
tances 1t Is surprising how slowly they are
,bliterated. This country doubtless affords
he greatest medley of individuals of any In
he world at the present day, and there is not
'et evolved q modern American type unless
t be the Brother Jonathan of century ago,
'hu NC = nv iouSCi sSoICCiy luC NOW GuHiduu
ype. The worlds living mass Is continually
'eing dissolved and recrystalized. The retard-
ng or conservative influences are largelypride
If family; the genealogical lines established
n perpetuity and jealousy guarded against
ne Invasion Of plebeian blood, together
With the cry stalizlng tendencies operating In
he most civilized centres to hold together by
lfinity those of like natures, habits and
astes, thus lifting whole classes out OF the
mass and holding them above it. There has
lever been an age in which caste has not been
! recognized feature of society, and probably
here never will be. Certain organized eX-
,er ences are inherited, by reason of which
certain acts are possible to human beings be-
ORE conscious lte begins. These may be
,aled race endownments and are possessed
~ man and the lower orders of creatures In
common. We speak of them In animals as
instincts. They are anterior to all individual
experiences, perfect from the first or at the
Of existence, whereas intelligence
) developed slowly out of accumulated indi-
'idual experiences. Within the scope of our
of mankind the instincts appear
do not grow, do not decay. 90 not
improve; at least immutabiIity Is the law
ariatiOn the exception, although II is probable
hat repeated modifying Impressions are ca
'abe OF being 10 turn transmitted.
The various definitions of instinct were
iven and that regarded as truest and most
AdCt WulCu dtlIlUults u IL OEIy lnt act COu.
0rmed 10 an end. without consciousness of
hat end. Instinct is the first step In the line
+ mental organization. There Is nothing
arier than this save that property of organ
zed matter ty which motion Ia evolved by
rritants and which is termed reflex action.
Instinct then enunconscious intelligences may
ONE. indeed believe may say have come.
rom habits fixed by heredity; but there Is a
reat difference between man and animals at
be beginning of life. Animals are much
lore mature at birth than man. Growth
ldeed takes place afterward, but there is no
lch period OF helpless infancy as In man. At
nee. almost, their instincts lead them to
rovide for themselves, and their course of
lll development. Spontaneous variations,
be struggle for life, natural selection, time
nd heredity are the factors concerned in the
{ Lpearance and disappearance of species'
ays Ribot. The part the cell plays In
physiological life Is understood. Tue some.
hing which PLAYS the same part In mental
fe Is presupposed. First, then, come actions
nd reflex actions. passing into habits. fixed
' heredity: thus the genesis OF Instincts.
he point OF view of modern scholars Is that
I the unity of composition of all psychologi-
Al phenomena: instinct this representing
ne OF the first sters In the ascending evolu-
en- of the mind. There Is no radical differ
nee In the development of memory, reason
C.. only different groupings of phenomena.
pstinct Is organized memory. whether ii be
egarded as the minimum of intelligence. or
n inferior form Of Ii. III the beredifv Of in