On inheritance of mental characters : the Harveian oration for 1910 : delivered before the Royal College of Physicians of London on October 18th / by H.B. Donkin.

  • Horatio Bryan Donkin
Date:
1910
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: On inheritance of mental characters : the Harveian oration for 1910 : delivered before the Royal College of Physicians of London on October 18th / by H.B. Donkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    large extent the two brain mechanisms, the instinctive and the ‘ individually acquired/ are in opposition to one another. The loss of instinct is what permits and necessitates the education of the receptive brain.” A very full and detailed exposition of this most im- portant truth, with its numerous bearings, is given by Dr. Reid in the remarkable book to which I have already referred.* In that part of it which treats of the development of mind he maintains, by an array of evidence, that the great peculiarity of the human being as compared with other animals is that the most distinctive characters of his mind arise much less, as he expresses it, under the stimulus of nutriment alone, and much more under that of use and experi- ence ; that his instincts are fewer, while his capacity for making acquirements is infinitely greater and more variable; and that since “ nature” has rendered man transcendently responsive to the “ nurture ” of use and experience, the question, so often asked, whether nature or nurture plays the most important part in the development of the human mind, has really but little meaning. “Capacity” or “ability” for making mental acquirements is innate and transmissible ; it resides, in various degrees, in the immense brain of man ; but for its development in special directions it requires the appropriate stimulus. The physical and * The Laws of Heredity, by Dr. Archdall Reid, M.B., F.R.S.E. Methuen & Co.. 1910.
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