some extent, to posterity. For, though the next generation will not inherit specific virtues and special abilities, it certainly will inherit general capacities. Our mental and moral qualities may be inherited by the next generation as tendencies and proclivities. Now, as we have already seen, our characters are not absolutely determined by the tendencies we inherit, and of course it is also true that the tendencies inherited from us by our offspring will not inevitably and irrevocably fix their characters. But just as we were helped in the moral struggle by inherited tendencies to good and handicapped by inherited tendencies to evil, so the next generation will be assisted or retarded in the task of the making of character by the kind of tendencies they inherit from us. Thus, though we cannot transmit our acquired characters as such, we have a real responsibility towards posterity. The more diligent and conscientious the present generation is in developing special abilities and specific virtues, the higher is likely to be the general level of ability and uprightness in the next.
§ 9. Some Educational Aspects of Heredity and Environment. The influences of education form part of the social environment of the child. The power of the social environment in general has already been emphasised. In education this power is focussed and concentrated. The present age is little likely to under-estimate the value and effect of education. With immeasurably fuller knowledge of the meaning of heredity and environment than Locke had, it is able to echo his statement: "I think I may say that of all the men we meet with
