THE TRIUMPH OF THE BEST. 



THE concluding chapter of The Rise of Man shall be 

 devoted to the explanation of an important truth 

 which is frequently misunderstood, viz., that man rose 

 from a brute condition by virtue of superior qualities, not 

 by brutishness and viciousness. Professor Huxley, 

 strange to say, insists on the immorality of nature, and 

 he is inclined to attribute the rise of man to his tiger-like 

 fierceness and fox-like cunning, which, it is claimed, he 

 learned in the stern school of life. But there is a flaw in 

 Professor Huxley's reasoning, and while we are fully 

 aware of the fierceness of the struggle for existence we 

 cannot account for the gradual rise of mankind, except by 

 the fact that primitive man cultivated in his family life 

 social faculties and other noble instincts which improved 

 his animal nature and made him what he is today. 

 Professor Huxley says : 



"From the point of view of the moralist the animal world is 

 on about the same level as a gladiator's show. The creatures are 

 fairly well treated, and set to fight whereby the strongest, the 

 swiftest, and the cunningest live to fight another day. * * * 



"In the cycle of phenomena presented by the life of man, no 

 more moral end is discernible than in that presented by the lives of 

 the wolf and of the deer. * * * 



"As among these, so among primitive men, the weakest and 

 stupidest went to the wall, while the toughest and shrewdest, those 

 who were best fitted to cope with their circumstances, but not the 

 best in any other sense, survived." 



The infuriated savage may be cruel to his enemies, 



