404 GENERAL SUMMAEY Part II. 



portant as tlie struggle for existence has been and even 

 still is, yet as far as the highest part of man's nature is 

 concerned there are other agencies more important. For 

 the moral qualities are advanced, either directly or in- 

 directly, much more through the effects of habit, the 

 reasoning powers, instruction, religion, &c., than through 

 natural selection ; though to this latter agency the social 

 instincts, which afforded the basis for the development 

 of the moral sense, may be safely attributed. 



The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely 

 that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, 

 will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many 

 persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are 

 descended from barbarians. The astonishment which 

 I felt on first seeing a party of Fuegians on a wild 

 and broken shore wall never be forgotten by me, 

 for the reflection at once rushed into my mind — 

 such were our ancestors. These men were absolutely 

 naked and bedaubed with paint, their long hair was 

 tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and 

 their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful. 

 They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals 

 lived on what they could catch ; they had no govern- 

 ment, and were merciless to every one not of their own 

 small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his native 

 land will not feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge 

 that the blood of some more humble creature flows 

 in his veins. For my own part I would as soon be 

 descended from that lieroic little monkey, who braved 

 his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his 

 keeper ; or from that old baboon, who, descending from 

 the mountains, carried away in triumph his young 

 comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs — as from a 

 savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up 



