sual area, both in these dogs and in
their progeny.

This is the brief statement of a most hopeful and encouraging fact.

We look to the dark side of the law of heredity for our warning. It
makes us solemnly thoughtful in view of our power over the race in the
transmitted result from our own wrongdoing; and then, when we feel
overwhelmed and discouraged, we turn towards the Gospel of Heredity
and take hope from the fact that good is transmissible; and, more than
that, we have it in our power so to modify our own characters,
tendencies and habits that we can, in all probability, give our
children a better dower than we received, and the earlier in life we
begin this making over of ourselves the better.

I have heard people excuse themselves for all manner of faults on the
plea that they were inheritances, and therefore could not be overcome.
That is to declare that we are slaves, with no chance to acquire
freedom, and I am not willing to admit that.

"Whereas in Adam all die, in Christ may all be made alive." That is,
that while under the Law of Heredity we are fettered, under the Gospel
of Heredity our chains may be broken and we become free.

There is much of encouragement in the poem of Ella Wheeler Wilcox on
heredity:

"There is no trait you cannot overcome.
Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,
Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,
And calls for punishment that is not merited.

"Back of thy parents and grandparents lies
The great Eternal Will, that, too, is thine
Inheritance--strong, beautiful, divine;
Sure lever of success for one who tries.

"Pry up thy fault with this great lever--will;
However deeply bedded in propensity;
However firmly set, I tell thee firmer yet
Is that great power that comes from truth's immensity.

"There is no noble height thou canst not climb;
All triumphs may be thine in time's futurity,
If, whatsoe'er thy fault, thou dost not faint or halt,
But lean upon the staff of God's security.

"Earth has no claim the soul cannot contest;
Know thyself part of the supernal source,
And naught can stand before thy spirit's force;
The soul's divine inheritance is best."

BIBLE TEXTS BEARING ON THE SUBJECT OF HEREDITY.

_Natural Heredity._

_Law._--Gen. 1:12-24; Ex. 20:6; Num. 14:18.

_Sins visited._--Job 21:17-19; Ps. 37:28; Jer. 32:18.

_Blessings._--Gen. 22:17, 18; Deut. 4:40