ABSTRACT
The remark is frequently heard that human nature does not change, the speaker generally implying thereby that never will men and women cease to display their innate frailty or folly or wickedness. There is truth in the remark, no doubt; but it must not be understood as meaning that our mental tendencies are incapable of modification. Recent scientific investigation has established that “nature” works much less powerfully in living organisms than the theories of Darwinism and post-Darwinism had led us to suppose, and that “nurture” is correspondingly more powerful. This position is demonstrated and illustrated in a very interesting fashion by Mr. Benjamin Kidd in the last chapter of his book, The Science of Power; and in other chapters of the same book he cites the instances of Japan and Germany to show how the mental outlook of whole nations may be profoundly modified in a comparatively short period of time. The persuasions of men and women, as social beings, alter, and the nature of the modifications they undergo is determined by the dominant spirit of time and place.
