The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-08-06
Amateur Students of Hcreait,r.

The growing interest in problems of
psychology and heredity has its good side
and its bad side. 1t is good in so far as
it inefines people in general to look for
first, causes and the logical sequence Of
events, instead of going on in a blind, IN
reasoning way to judge. condemn, or en-
dorse. But when it leads to hasty general
ization on insufficient grounds it is very
bads and with a careless and inaccurate
observer it generally does
For example. the untutored Iaind grasps
The idea that child inherits certain quail
Ties and tendencies from its parents, or
even from its ancestors and may there
fore be expected to resemble them in char
aeter. That is all right SO far as it goes.
The person in charge of the child may
thus be able to make allowances for its
faults and guard against its weaknesses. If
a mother knows that her boy probably in
herits a weakness for intoxicants, she will
not do anything which will form his taste
in hat direction. If she knows that he
has violent and ungovernable temper she
will not irritate it unnecessarily, and win
do all in her power to help him to gov ern
it; and so through the whole list of the
dangers which beset the growth OF human
nature. But if she assumes, too hastily,
that bad tendencies will make the child
bad, or even that the faults of its pro-
genitors viii appear in full force, she
may hasten the very evils which she is
striving to prevent. She should remem-
her that a hundred influences besides those
of
training. and that peculiar thing which
we call Individuality and which is often
not to be accounted for by birth OF breed
ing. Thusl if she greets every exhibition
OF temper with the remark, Yes. your
temper is your grandfather's over again,
and you will be just like him if you don't
learn TO control it," the chances are that
her prophecy viii come exactly true If
she is continually haunted by fear of the
appearance of some vice, the child will
probably feel, even unconsciously, that it
is being judged prematureIy, and not in
frequently such a course ends II the COM
mission of the dreaded fault When one
is blamed for a crime not as yet commit
ted, there is often an impulse to give the
whimpering child something to cry for
and. as another old proverb puts it, hav-
ing the name, to take the game, and be
what one is judged TO be-
This is especially likely to be true OF the
children Of criminals. It is very unsafe
to make rash congratulations in this line.
1t wastes possibilities. If every child
with one or more parents in the ranks of
the vicious is to be condemned as vicious
from its birth. society might as we'll pro-
tect itself by killing such children off at
once But a better way of protection
would be to give them a chance to be good
and useful citizens. 1t was once said
that somewhere in every mans pedigree
the Investigator would come to the end of
rope; and if there was not a natural
force at work to obIiterate vicious instincts
and kill off degenerates. society would
be a mass OF corruption far more offensive
than was ever pictured in the most SEN
sational history of old Rome The true
theory of heredity Is hopeful, not pessi-
mistic.