develop into the offspring. The zygote has the power of developing
particular structures and characters in the complicated organisation of
the adult, and we recognise that the characters are determined by the
properties and constitution of the zygote; that is to say, of one or both
of the gametes which unite to form the zygote. The distinction between
peculiarities or 'characters,' determined in the ovum before development,
and modifications due to influences acting on the individual during its
development or life, is often obvious enough. A child's health, size, mode
of speech, and behaviour may be greatly influenced by feeding, training,
and education, but the colour of his or her eyes and hair were determined
before birth. A human individual has, we know, a number of congenital or
innate characters, by which we mean characters which arise from the
constitution of the individual at the time of birth, and not from
influences acting on him or her after birth. We have to remember, however,
that modifications may be caused during development in the uterus, as, for
example, birth-marks on the skin, and these would not be due to
peculiarities in the constitution of the ovum. Karl Pearson and other
devotees of the cult of Eugenics have been lately impressing on the public
by pamphlets, lectures, and addresses the great importance of nature as
compared with nurture, maintaining that the latter is powerless to
counteract either the good or bad qualities of the former, and that the
effects of nurture are not transmitted to the next generation.

We recognise that the characters of varieties of flowers, fruits, and
domesticated animals are not to be produced by any particular mode of
treatment. We see the various kinds of orchids or carnations in the same
greenhouse, of sweet peas and roses in the same garden. We go to a show
and see the extraordinary variety of breeds of pigeons, rabbits, or fowls,
and we know that these cannot be produced by treating the progeny of
individuals of one kind in special ways, but are the progeny of parents of