The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-01-04
LAWS Or HBRBDIIY.
Progress --- Variation
---EnVirOnment---
Evolution.
Essay Read Before the Abbeville
Literary Club, December 80,
1892, by DR.. F. E. Harrison.
LIKENESS is one of the com monest

A family likeness ia one Of the commonest
things In the world.
mer days and note The cheerful presence OF
the little prattiers clustered around his hre-
side we remark as q matter OF course their
resem blance TO one or both parents or TO an
ancestor more or less distant. Indeed this Is
SO frequently the Case tHat u Is only the OPP
posite. or lack of resemblance between parents
and offspring that excltes comment. HOW
coenized by some one TO us unknown VINO
saw in US the familiar features oil our fether
or mother.
his irisking playful coils. to the nt'ained
eve ..as like as two peas" he Will tel us That
this one in whose veins the blood of Suno
or a Maud s.. flows, is worth ten OF that
whose ancestors have been plow horses ever.
The Veterinary Surgeon says that's common
draught horse will go on quietly eating Ills
hay while undergoing an operation which
would make the thoroughbred racer scream
ATf If We interrogate the vegetable kingdom we
! fnd the fostering care of man abundantly re-
1 paid after years OF patient exercise, III the
! present perfection OF the apple, the rose; the
1chrysauthemum, the pratn the orchids
land many others. IL We enter Leper Hos
Initial we see wretches malned and distorted
In all stages Of living death, almost unre-
: Eognizabie as human beings, virtually en-
+ fombed alive and We Shudder 10 contemplate
The burden some are born with, which they
ARE doomed to carry through lives or misery
Ind worst Oh Al-tO ~ lhSii VA
Spripg 1t ia now known that ieprosy is not
{ontayious In the ordinary state bu! Is trans
bilted by ordinary inheritance like other
sAmily traits.
l,g examples ia the Law Of Heredity. We
San consider in this paper only It's most strik-
ing and common Manifestations - Tor lis
- sway Is upiversn-wherever plant or an
inai xists-and as one Of the Laws of Nature
A. admits no exceptions AS the law OF GRAY
itation is felt and obeyed alike by the tiniest
atom that dances In the sunbeam and by the
greatest star in the Solar system, so Inc law
Of Heredity-binds with It's feLters-uifelt yet
nnyielding-light as the g,sSmnGS OF spider
Te6 vet not 10 be bruken-eaSnssshe hum
blest daisy that blossoms sssni of SSass
branches almost reach t&EskE3s-sne al
imalcule only to be seen s9ett1sIac tdcrn
scope and Man the Fini>hin sSfsaase g Of Dsvire
Creative Genius. ts,,SSEssS~ f~st
II is as easy to imagine an SSsepSt2n to OF
of these great laws The 4tier-as easy y
And matter without weight ~ q Irving
thing without Likeness TO basens Gr onsYsf M ,fa
orable environment and Is alweys found COB
tending against the Law OF Variation. ~;
Ooeratiun OF these three forces upon the w
ing being from the bfginntDg to the preseu
titpe Ia what the Biologists call Tha Fheory
Evolution. l,.s
of these terms as they are Used py toe SCI
entlsts OF the present day. tbefore proceed
ing with the further considerftlnn ot our sun
Iect. since the prOblenbs OF Evolptton or
inseparably connected with those o1s Asred
''f; w .Enyironment" is meant those cireum
ataEces external 10 the iudiv idual which affec
hi. traits or characteristics Iso that ne ant
t,isdescendants t. are by them altered or cnehR
ed from the originsl type. The Law OF Va
ration" is thatiorce. .operatin within tre In
dIvidual which acts as 1t were In ceDtri
tugal manner, prodacin1g ga pd,nr oepadf,nr ~ iron ~
tablish new aud equally unstable types.
The following is Worcestefs dennikion
Heredity: ..,s
,mals or plants, inherit the characteristic
however acquired, Of their parents. More spt
cincnily the doctrine propounded oy Hefber
spencer OF lay IN aio scGo[dsnSs wtn wnlG ni
fheir own physiological ana mentat const
tutions, but these as modified ,by adaptation
experience and culture; SO that q racf 10 cor
tinuously undergoing process OF evolution
the offspring starting with the capaeities {
acting knowing and feeling oeveiopea IN II
parents" 49, is
among Biologists concerning the trausmissio
nf ACQUIRED characteristics Spme n3aintai
this doctrine he the method by which pro-
ress is made--those traits being nanoed dow
t,v the race which make for Us bettermen
Olhers deny this and affirm the NATURAL sele
1ion OF those members only oi race ths
exhibit the most favorable variationsj
expressed in the definition of Heradity q
ready given. is committed to the first do
frine. For his whole system OF Siolog
Psychology and Ethics Is fou nded upo4 the CO
rectness Of the proposition. He!cannSt be e.
iirely satisfied In his own mind howfyer, 4
in the Nineteenth Century, 1889 ne says, tn
o trhe question, which OF them iis Hpe z
deman nds, beyond all other qusstioNs wha
ever. the attention Of scientihc Ihen: Franc
Galton calls this, "the obscure, uRsettle
: and much discussed subject OF ,transmittll
Ncouired faculties" L. ~
"Sr, Osborn, Professor OF Biology IN tColuf
3hta(CoIlege, in summing up aftet aost e
zsIanAtlye treatise on the subjectr sayis, 1T