Page:George Archdall Reid 1896 The present evolution of man.djvu/196

184 ance than the first. In other words, the Bushman differs mentally from the Englishman almost entirely because the stimulation he individually receives from his surroundings is different, a chief factor in producing his peculiar traits being his progenitors, who rear him and cause him to acquire mental traits similar to their own.

Lastly, it should be noted that this power of developing mentally in response to stimulation may not, and probably does not, proceed on lines entirely parallel in races differently circumstanced as regards the environment; for instance, the circumstances under which the ancestors of the Bushman have lived are such, that possibly he is able more readily and to a greater extent to acquire habits of watchfulness against enemies than the Englishman, whose ancestors, on the other hand, have perhaps been so circumstanced, so dealt with by Natural Selection, that possibly he is able more readily and to a greater extent to acquire the higher mental traits. But mental differences arising from this cause must likewise be slight, when compared to the differences produced by the direct action of the environment on the individual; for, on the whole, the evolution of the power of developing mentally in response to stimulation must have proceeded on lines nearly parallel in all races of mankind. There does not perhaps exist a potential Wrangler among the Bushmen, but judging from such children of savage parentage as have been reared in civilized communities, the average Bushman can be brought under fit training to closely resemble in his mental traits the average Englishman.

Numerous facts inductively support the deduction arrived at above, and considering that the bearings of many of these facts are extremely obvious, it is remarkable that philosophers, historians, and other thinkers and writers have almost universally been of the opinion