102 THE DESCENT OF MAN. Part I. 



" believe that the experiences of utility organised and 

 " consolidated through all past generations of the human 

 " race, have been producing corresponding modifications, 

 " which, by continued transmission and accumulation, 

 " have become in us certain faculties of moral intuition — 

 " certain emotions responding to right and wrong con- 

 " duct, which have no apparent basis in the individual 

 " experiences of utility." There is not the least inhe- 

 rent improbability, as it seems to me, in virtuous ten- 

 dencies being more or less strongly inherited ; for, not 

 to mention the various dispositions and habits trans- 

 mitted by many of our domestic animals, I have heard 

 of cases in which a desire to steal and a tendency to lie 

 appeared to run in families of the upper ranks; and 

 as stealing is so rare a crime in the wealthy classes, 

 we can hardly account by accidental coincidence for the 

 tendency occurring in two or three members of the 

 same family. If bad tendencies are transmitted, it is 

 probable that good ones are likewise transmitted. Ex- 

 cepting through the principle of the transmission of 

 moral tendencies, we cannot understand the differences 

 believed to exist in this respect between the various 

 races of mankind. We have, however, as yet, hardly 

 sufficient evidence on this head. 



Even the partial transmission of virtuous tendencies 

 would be an immense assistance to the primary impulse 

 derived directly from the social instincts, and indirectly 

 from the approbation of our fellow-men. Admitting 

 for the moment that virtuous tendencies are inherited, 

 it appears probable, at least in such cases as chastity, 

 temperance, humanity to animals, &c, that they become 

 first impressed on the mental organisation through 

 habit, instruction, and example, continued during several 

 generations in the same family, and in a quite subor- 

 dinate degree, or not at all, by the individuals pos- 



