§ 2. Physical Heredity. All character has a physical basis. Every child has a body, and without a body it could have no character. In studying the development of character, we must therefore first examine the meaning of physical heredity. Heredity has been defined as the genetic relation that binds one generation to another. The individual's inheritance includes all that he is, or has, to start with, in virtue of this genetic relation. The importance of heredity is recognised in phrases that have become household words. "A chip of the old block" suggests the essential continuity of one generation with those that preceded it; and "Blood will tell" illustrates the popular conviction that the past generation determines the development of the present.
What exactly is included in the inheritance? It has been represented pictorially by President D. S. Jordan as a "pack." In The Heredity of Richard Roe, President Jordan makes an analysis of the contents of the pack with which the typical individual Richard Roe starts life.[1] First of all, the pack contains the general characteristics of his common humanity, the general qualities that belong to him in virtue of the fact that he is a human being, and not a bird or a fish. In addition, the pack comprises the features which belong to the race of which he has been born a member. If he be of Celtic parentage, his pack will contain the characteristics of the Celtic stock. He will be fiery, but
- ↑ It must be remembered that this distinction between Richard Roe and his pack is largely figurative. At first, at least, Richard Roe and his pack are the same thing. The individual and his inheritance are, to begin with, one and the same.
