§6. Mental and Moral Inheritance. We have seen that physical qualities are inherited. Are mental and moral characteristics inherited in the Same way? Does the child inherit his father's mental and moral qualities as he does his eyes and hair?
Much evidence has been collected to show that mental ability is transmitted from parent to offspring. In particular, Prof. Karl Pearson has gathered a large amount of material with regard to the transmission of mental characteristics. School teachers in London were asked to report on such characteristics in their scholars as popularity, vivacity, ability, and handwriting. Information was collected with regard to the resemblance of the scholars to their parents in these respects; and as a result of the whole enquiry, Prof. Pearson maintained that "the degree of resemblance of the physical and mental characters of children is one and the same." Or, to put it otherwise, "We inherit our parents' temper, our parents' conscientiousness, shyness, and ability, as we inherit their stature, forearm, and span."[1]
Similar investigations have been made with regard to the transmission of moral characteristics. One of the most interesting of these studies is Dugdale's account of the "Jukes." Dugdale traces the history of some 1200 "Jukes," all descendants of a ne'er-do-weel who flourished about 1750 on the Hudson River. His descendants showed nothing but ignorance, idleness, and crime, combined with extraordinary fertility. The great majority of
- ↑ Huxley Lecture for 1903.
