178 MR. DARWIN'S CRITICS v 



tolerably advanced society. And, in such a society, 

 there are abundant conditions by which a selective 

 influence is exerted in favour of those persons who 

 exhibit an approximation towards the possession 

 of these capacities. 



The savage who can amuse his fellows by telling 

 a good story over the nightly fire, is held by them 

 in esteem and rewarded, in one way or another, 

 for so doing in other words, it is an advantage to 

 him to possess this power. He who can carve a 

 paddle, or the figure-head of a canoe better, 

 similarly profits beyond his duller neighbour. He 

 who counts a little better than others, gets most 

 yams when barter is going on, and forms the 

 shrewdest estimate of the numbers of an opposing 

 tribe. The experience of daily life shows that the 

 conditions of our present social existence exercise 

 the most extraordinarily powerful selective influence 

 in favour of novelists, artists, and strong intellects 

 of all kinds ; and it seems unquestionable that all 

 forms of social existence must have had the same 

 tendency, if we consider the indisputable facts that 

 even animals possess the power of distinguishing 

 form and number, and that they are capable of 

 deriving pleasure from particular forms and 

 sounds. If we admit, as Mr. Wallace does, that 

 the lowest savages are not raised " many grades 

 above the elephant and the ape ; " and if we 

 further admit, as I contend must be admitted, that 

 the conditions of social life tend, powerfully, to 



