birth.

The fact that an individual's political and religious faith depends
almost entirely on his place of birth and early youth, shows the
strength of environment in forming and shaping opinions and beliefs.

As the child grows and develops, it is influenced by all that surrounds
it. The human machine moves in response to outside stimulation. How it
will move depends upon two things, the character of the stimulant and
the machine to which it is applied. No two machines will act exactly
alike from the same stimulus. Sometimes they act in diametrically
opposite ways. For instance, under the same stimulation, one may run and
another may fight, depending perhaps on the secretions that the ductless
glands empty into the blood.

No machine can act except according to its make-up. Even an ignorant
person, who finds that the same stimulant produces different results on
different machines, would know that the structures are not the same.

Endless discussions have been devoted to the relative importance of
heredity and environment in human conduct. This is a fruitless task. In
a sense, each one is of supreme importance in the outcome of a life. It
is obvious that some structures are so perfect that almost no
environment will overcome them. Instances of strong men developing out
of poor environment are not rare. Many of these may be subject to doubt
as to whether the heredity caused the strength, for the smallest
particle of luck at some special or vital time may make all the
difference possible in the outcome of a life. While some heredities
withstand a poor environment, others are so poor that, no matter how
good the environment, the machine cannot survive. An idiot is an
illustration of one whom environment cannot change. No heredity will
overcome the hardest environment. The old saying, "every man has his
price," is true in this sense, that every machine will stand just so
much and no more. Some machines reach the breaking point soon and some
later, but all have their limit. Most people have a heredity that is not
the best nor yet the worst. Given an imperfect machine, they are thrown
into a certain environment, and then up to the capacity of their
machines the outcome depends entirely on the environment. Given an
environment easy enough they will succeed, or at least "get by." Given a
hard environment they will fail, or "go down." Tens of thousands of men
live in a comparatively easy environment and pass their lives as