The herald., 1895-12-16
THE QUESTION Of AERED|TY
A. E. Gibson Replies to the
Claims of DR.. Bridge
ILLOGICAL AND UNSCIENTIFIC
And Not Only These, but Unjust, Says
the Gentleman
Incompatible with the Host Rudimentary
interests of Ordinary Justice

Heredity, as advocated by DR.. Bridge in
a speech made at the last meeting of the
Friday Morning club, elicits an answer
from A. E. Gibson, which answer is here
given in full:
In his discourse upon physical, moral
and mental heredity, in the Friday Morn
ing club last Friday, DR.. Norman Bridge
made the statement that 'it is the veriest
shade of a change that evolves an imbecile
from genus,o and that 'there is only the
shortest step that keeps saints and sinners
on a level" If this be so, if between the
genius and the imbecile only the ''veriest
shade" constituted the difference, the two
sweeping generaliza ions enunciated by
modern science, the indestructibility and
conservation of force and the correlation
of energy would be void of meaning. From
the standpoint taken by science the force
manifestiug In genius is the OH put of
corresponding amount of mental effort.
We cannot logically conceive OF any attain
ment which is not the result of downright
exertion. If we try to master an art,
language or system of philosophy our
first experience will invariably be that
nothing but undaunted efforts and indus
trious application, i. o., expenditure OF
physical or mental energy, can bring the
coveted goal within our reach. There is no
royat road to learning. Elk nihilo nlhll tit
from nothing comes nothing.
If these premises are correct, genius IS
the expression of a given quantity of stored
up mentai energy, which, if translated into
phs steal force, would permit of being
measurable In terms of mechanics, and
patent enough. If applied to material con-
ditions, to work miracles unhear0 or In
strength and power. For the subtler the
energy the more patent it becomes. linus
the congregations of water from solids into
fluids and vapors, respectively, ice. water
steam, hydrogen and oxygen and inter-
etherie correlations, show continually
increased potency for every step of rariti-
cation. Thought or mind energy which
possesses tineness and subtility of cs-
sence hat transcends all measurements
must necessarily WELD powers with which
physical forces would give the impression
of duilness and impotence. Incidents
where persons have become paralyzed
by fear or transtXed by terror indicate the
terrible potency of mental energy. Now,
tie difference between he imbecile and
the genius as expressed in active mind
energy is the difference displayed between
the mechanic force of watch and that of
a steam engine. With the knowledge we
have of the activities at work in the process
of the generating mechanic forces, we can
really get conception as to the nature of
THE activities involved in the generating of
mental and moral force; and to affirm, in
I'll face OF these simple facts, that sit is
the veriest shade of change that evolves an
imbecle from q genius" is to pronounce
the most triumphant discovery of modern
scientific research as a cheat and pre-
tention.
There is only the shortest step thal
keeps saints and sinners on a level" the
doctor reterates. Now, however, if we
concede to scientific research it's legitimate
right Of authority and admit that what we
a,l1 oA fol fba tom n
partial expressions of reservoirs of poten-
tiai, mental energy accumulated during
ages of Individual activity-the saint, ii q
true saint, is corresponding expression of
storage batteries OF moral energy. And if
we are thus compelled to admit that saint
ship is constituted by high moral develop
meut, and morality to be truth. which,
like all truths, can be won only through re-
peated experiences, tests, trials and un,iI-
ing efforts-are reductibie into terms of
DIV mamie expenditure-than in place of
being the shortest step it must be re-
garded as the longest step, that keeps
the saints and sinners on level'-a step
to be measured only by the deepest and
most far reaching movements of the human
mind-a transmutation OF vice and selfish
ness into virtue and altruism.
AS an explanation of the circumstance
that the greatest intellects have come from
fair or mediocre intelligence, as, for in
stance, Shakespeare, Goethe. Mozart, Mil
on, Napoleon, etc., the doctor declares
That vigor of body and tranquility of the
nervous system tell for more than any,
thing else." If these two factors sufficed
Tor the generating of genius, then the
Congo negro and the Australian bushman
would be successful competitors in turning
out full-orbed geniuses. But, as has been
shown in the above. genius is sui generis
and the expression OF powers native to the
soul, the inner man. and stored up during
ages of intelligent application to the vari-
Oils lines of mental and moral pursuits.
Thus genius is a specialized force and ever
related to some line of intellectual devel-
opment, thereby betraying a ior ac-
quaintance with earth conditions. If tran
guilty of the nervous system and vigor of
the parents could take effect in an off.
sprtng-genius, then why could not the
seifsame qualities take effect in the parent
himself, or in any other Individual who
possessed those not SO uncommon attri-
butes? But if we are to handle the mat
ter with reason and logic, then tranquility
and vigor, however valuable those quail.
ties may be. cannot more evolve, let us
say musician or an MISUNDERSTANDING
as these geniuses do to downright ac.
Quaintance with technical terms, unattain-
able outside the fields upon which they are
found operating-than all the timber from
the worlds forests could give rise to a
single stone structure.
The objection may here be raised, how it
be possible that an individual, after only a
few years of earthly existence, can possess
the experiences of ages. Such an objec-
ton would be perfectly valid. But the
arguments set forth above is not less valid
and the only rational way out of the di-
lemma is to take recourse to q theory, held
and expounded by the grandest thinkers
and philosophers of all times and ages, of
a Pythagoras, a Socrates, Plato, Apal.
lonius, Corphery, Zanbliehus and others
and at present embraced by one-fourth OF
the entire population of this planet, the
doctrine of reincarnation or physical re-
birth. For if heredity determined genius
how are we to explain the circumstance
that, as the doctor remarks: 1.-THE great.
ness (of the otfspring) rarely continues fol-
more than two generations" Here hered-
| ity is made to initiate the bloodthirsty
| Saturn of the Grecian Pantheon, who, as
| we are told, devoured his own Chi dren
| Heredity first is made to evolve genius
out of nothing, and then, after a couple of
generations, resolve it into nothing. Were
heredity law, and not a misapDre-
hended phenomena, genius once evolved
| would continually increase in character
/ and value, generation after generation, I'M
| til the whole world was filled with it's gran
deur and benefcence. If in the place OF
heredity we apply the theory of reincarna-
| ton as the solvent of the problem of gen.
lus, the individual by his journeyings from
| from birth to death. on the one side of ex.
istence, and from death to bir on the