He comes into the world just as his ancestors have made him. He did not choose his ancestors; he had nothing to do with the moulding of their natures. Every quality, good or bad, in his own nature, has been handed down to him by his forbears, without knowledge or consent. How can we blame the new-born or unborn baby for the nature and arrangement of the cells--which are _he?_ Born into the world as he was made, he is a helpless infant, dependent upon his nurses and his teachers. He did not choose his nurses, nor his teachers; he cannot control their conduct towards him, nor test the truth nor virtue of the lessons he learns from them. He grows older the nature he inherited from his ancestors is modified, for better or for worse, by the lessons and the treatment given to him by his nurses, his companions, and his teachers. So, when he becomes a man he is that which his forbears and his fellow creatures have made him. That is to say, he is the product of his heredity and his environment. He could not be otherwise. How, then, can it be just to blame him for being that which he _must_ be? But, it may be objected, a man has power to change, or to conquer, his environment; to train, or to subdue, his original nature. That depends upon the strength of his original nature (which his ancestors handed down to him) and of his environment--which consists, largely, of the actions of his fellow-creatures. A man has power to do that which his forbears have made him able to do. He has power to do no more. He has certain powers given him by his forbears, which may have been developed or repressed by his surroundings. With those powers, as modified by the influences surrounding and outside himself, he may do all that his nature desires and is able to do. Up to the limit of his inherited powers he may do all that his environment (his experiences) have taught or incited him to do. To speak of a man conquering his environment is the same thing as to speak of a man swimming against a stream. He can swim against the stream if he has strength and skill to overcome the stream. His strength is his heredity: his skill is the result of his environment. If his strength and skill are more than equal to the force of the stream he will conquer his environment; if the stream is too strong for him he will be conquered by his environment. His acts, in short, depend wholly upon his nature and his environment: neither of which is of his own choosing. Of this I will say more in its place. A man gets his nature from his forbears, just as certainly as he gets the shape of his nose, the length of his foot, and the colour of his eyes from his forbears. As we do not blame a man for being born with red or black hair, why should we blame him for being born with strong passions or base desires? If it is foolish to blame a child for being born with a deformed or weak spine, how can it be reasonable to blame him for being born with a deformed or weak brain?