Their achievement in
these traits was determined by their heredity; training did not
measurably alter these hereditary potentialities.
"The facts," Professor Thorndike wrote, "are easily, simply and
completely explained by one simple hypothesis; namely, that the nature
of the germ-cells--the conditions of conception--cause whatever
similarities and differences exist in the original natures of men, that
these conditions influence mind and body equally, and that in life the
differences in modification of mind and body produced by such
differences as obtain between the environments of present-day New York
City public school children are slight."
"The inferences," he says, "with respect to the enormous importance of
original nature in determining the behavior and achievements of any man
in comparison with his fellows of the same period of civilization and
conditions of life are obvious. All theories of human life must accept
as a first principle the fact that human beings at birth differ
enormously in mental capacities and that these differences are largely
due to similar differences in their ancestry. All attempts to change
human nature must accept as their most important condition the limits
set by original nature to each individual.
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