manner of schools had come into being at the University, and often
they functioned in pairs, one devoted to proving a proposition, and the
other to disproving it. And among these pairs of schools two, in
particular, seemed to exist on a most tenuous basis. Their avowed
mission was to settle the age-old argument concerning the relative
influences of heredity and environment.

One, headed by Professor Miltcheck von Possenfeller, worked tirelessly
to prove that there was no such determining factor as heredity, and that
environment alone was the governing influence in human behavior.

The other, under the direction of Dr. Arthur D. Smithlawn, was dedicated
to the task of proving that environment meant nothing, and that only
heredity was important.

Success, in short, could only come to those who were born with the genes
of success in their bodies, and failure was as preordained for the rest
as was ultimate death for all.

Over a period of more than two hundred years the School of Environment
had been taking babies from among the thousands of homeless waifs
gathered in throughout the universe, and raising them carefully in a
closely supervised, cultural atmosphere.

The School of Heredity, on the other hand, was more select. Its pupils
came only from families whose genealogy could be traced back for at
least a thousand years. Freedom of choice and expression was the rule
here, since the school was attempting to prove that a child's inherited
tendencies will send it inevitably along a predetermined path,
completely uninfluenced by outside help or hindrance.

In two centuries neither school had been able to develop an overpowering
case in support of its own theory. Hence they both thrived, and
cheerfully ignored the discrepancies which existed in the case records
of individuals who had not turned out according to the book.

Although they were zealous professional rivals, Prof. von Possenfeller
and Dr. Smithlawn were devoted personal friends. They called each other
Possy and Smithy and got together once a week to play chess and exchange
views on the universe in general. Only one subject was taboo between
them--their experimental work.

On this particular Saturday night, however, Smithy noticed that his good
friend Possy was terribly agitated and disturbed, and had for the third
time carelessly put his queen in jeopardy.

"My dear friend," exclaimed Possy, blindly moving his king into check.
"Could you possibly be per