The evolutionist has really to
deal with the three factors of germ-plasm, physical surroundings and
culture. But Galton's phrase is so widely current that we shall continue
to use it, with the implications that have just been outlined.
The antithesis of nature and nurture is not a new one; it was met long
ago by biologists and settled by them to their own satisfaction. The
whole body of experimental and observational evidence in biology tends
to show that the characters which the individual inherits from his
ancestors remain remarkably constant in all ordinary conditions to which
they may be subjected. Their constancy is roughly proportionate to the
place of the animal in the scale of evolution; lower forms are more
easily changed by outside influence, but as one ascends to the higher
forms, which are more differentiated, it is found more and more
difficult to effect any change in them. Their characters are more
definitely fixed at birth.[1]
It is with the highest of all forms, Man, that we have now to deal. The
student in biology is not likely to doubt that the differences in men
are due much more to inherited nature than to any influences brought to
bear after birth, even though these latter influences include such
powerful ones as nutrition and education within ordinary limits.
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