[79] This applies even to such an acute thinker as John Stuart Mill,
whose ideas were formed in the pre-Darwinian epoch, and whose works must
now be accepted with great reserve. Darwin was quite right in saying,
"The ignoring of all transmitted mental qualities will, as it seems to
me, be hereafter judged as a most serious blemish in the works of Mr.
Mill." (_Descent of Man_, p. _98_.) A quotation from the _Principles of
Political Economy_ (Vol. 1, p. 389) will give an idea of Mr. Mill's
point of view: "Of all the vulgar methods of escaping from the effects
of social and moral influences on the mind, the most vulgar is that of
attributing diversities of conduct and character to inherent natural
differences"!
[80] _Feeble-mindedness, its Causes and Consequences._ By H. H. Goddard,
director of the Research Laboratory of the Training School at Vineland,
New Jersey, for feeble-minded boys and girls. New York, The Macmillan
Co., 1914.
[81] Probably the word now covers a congeries of defects, some of which
may be non-germinal. Epilepsy is so very generally found associated with
various other congenital defects, that action should not be delayed.
[82] Goddard, H. H., _Feeble-Mindedness_, pp. 14-16.
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