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galton.org 217
Conclusion
217
even retrograde condition of natural gifts, I made inquiry into the life
history of twins, which resulted in proving the vastly preponderating
effects of nature over nurture.
The fact that the very foundation and outcome of the human mind is
dependent on race, and that the qualities of races vary, and therefore that
humanity taken as a whole is not fixed but variable, compels us to
reconsider what may be the true place and function of man in the order of
the world. I have examined this question freely from many points of view,
because whatever may be the vehemence with which particular opinions
are insisted upon, its solution is unquestionably doubtful. There is a wide
and growing conviction among truth-seeking, earnest, humble-minded,
and thoughtful men, both in this country and abroad, that our cosmic
relations are by no means so clear and simple as they are popularly
supposed to be, while the worthy and intelligent teachers of various
creeds, who have strong persuasions on the character of those relations, do
not concur in their several views.
The results of the inquiries I have made into certain alleged forms of
our relations with the unseen world do not, so far as they go, confirm the
common doctrines. One, for example, on the objective efficacy of
prayer
[1]
was decidedly negative. It showed that while contradicting the
commonly expressed doctrine, it concurred with the almost universal
practical opinion of the present day. Another inquiry into visions showed
that, however ill explained they may still be, they belong for the most
part, if not altogether, to an order of phenomena which no one dreams in
other cases of calling supernatural. Many investigations concur in
showing the vast multiplicity of mental operations that are in
simultaneous action, of which only a minute part falls within the ken of
consciousness, and suggest that much of what passes for supernatural is
due to one portion of our mind being contemplated by another portion of
it, as if it had been that of another person. The term “individuality” is in
fact a most misleading word.
I do not for a moment wish to imply that the few inquiries published in
this volume exhaust the list of those that might be made, for I distinctly
hold the contrary, but
[1]
Not reprinted in this edition.
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