Chap. XXI. AND CONCLUDING KEMAKKS. 391 



improvement of language. The large size of the brain 

 in man, in comparison with that of the lower animals, 

 relatively to the size of their bodies, may be attributed 

 in chief part, as Mr. Chauncey Wright has well re- 

 marked,^ to the early use of some simple form of 

 language, — that wonderful engine which affixes signs 

 to all sorts of objects and qualities, and excites trains 

 of thought which would never arise from the mere im- 

 pression of the senses, and if they did arise could not 

 be followed out. The higher intellectual powers of 

 man, such as those of ratiocination, abstraction, self- 

 consciousness, &c., will have followed from the con- 

 tinued improvement of other mental faculties ; but 

 without considerable culture of the mind, both in the 

 race and in the individual, it is doubtful whether these 

 high powers would be exercised, and thus fully attained. 



The development of the moral qualities is a more 

 interesting and difficult problem. Their foundation 

 lies in the social instincts, including in this term the 

 family ties. These instincts are of a highly complex 

 nature, and in the case of the lower animals give 

 special tendencies towards certain definite actions ; but 

 the more important elements for us are love, and the 

 distinct emotion of sympathy. Animals endowed with 

 the social instincts take pleasure in each other's com- 

 pany, warn each other of danger, defend and aid each 

 other in many w-ays. These instincts are not extended 

 to all the individuals of the species, but only to those 

 of the same community. As they are highly beneficial 

 to the species, they have in all probability been acquired 

 through natural selection. 



A moral being is one who is capable of comparing 



^ On the " Limits of Natural Selection," in the ' North American 

 Review,' Oct. 1870, p. 295. 



