THE PLACE OF CONSCIENCE IN EVOLUTION. 



515 



enable him to see more clearly and explain more completely, but it can- 

 not give him either the eye or the conscience. 



3. Conscience is also instantaneous that is, imperative in its com- 

 mands. It never stops to argue when once the right is, or is thought 

 to be, ascertained. But if mankind had reached the lofty heights of 

 duty by the ladder of utility or the gradually-growing influence of ex- 

 ternal sanctions, it might have been expected that some fragments of 

 the ladder, some traces of the process, some memory of the time when 

 " ought " was a word of dubious meaning and uncertain cogency, would 

 have been preserved. The evidence derivable from the histories of sav- 

 age existence seems plainly to indicate that this imperativeness of con- 

 science is inseparable from the most rudimentary stage of moral and 

 social life. In short, to put the matter as briefly as possible, those who 

 object to the theory of evolution maintain that it is impossible to con- 

 ceive of any creature entitled to the name of a human being who was 

 not as much furnished with a conscience as anv of his successors. True, 

 the primeval conscience had not begun to construct moral rules any 

 more than the primeval eye had formed theories of light and form ; but 

 the existence of both was equally indisputable and essential to the idea 

 of man. 



Now, if it can be shown that there is a place in evolution for the 

 formation of a conscience fulfilling all these conditions if, that is, the 

 theory of evolution can be proved to account precisely for those phe- 

 nomena that seem prima facie to militate most strongly against it if 

 this feature, which I have called instantaneousness, and have exhibited 

 in three of its leading characteristics, is exactly what one might expect 

 to find in the evolution of the human race then I submit we have 

 obtained a confirmation of the truth of the said theory of that nature 

 which appeals most forcibly to the common-sense and practical judg- 

 ment of mankind. Let this, then, be the judge as to whether all that is 

 instantaneous in conscience is not fully accounted for by the considera- 

 tions I am about to urge. 



In seeking to account for the origin of man by evolution we are fre- 

 quently obliged to confess that the entire absence of contemporary evi- 

 dence compels us, at any rate for the present, to say of many phenomena, 

 that if we knew more we should be able to answer difficulties and clear 

 up perplexities which seem at this present moment wellnigh insuperable. 

 The gaps are such that they cannot be filled up even by the imagina- 

 tion. Science has done but little yet to enable the intellect to form an 

 idea to itself of the way in which organic life and reasoning man began 

 to exist upon the earth. Impenetrable darkness hangs over vast epochs, 

 nor is it possible in the present absence of materials to fill in the pict- 

 ure of that critical time when man (slowly or suddenly, who can tell?) 

 rose up from among the beasts and said, or rather felt without being 

 able to say, "I am." But then by our hypothesis this is also the time 

 when he also said, " I must." We may feel assured that at this time, 



