Chap. Y. MOKAL FACULTIES. 16 



30 



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and still more highly endowed tribe. Thus the social 

 and moral qualities would tend slowly to advance and 

 be diffused throughout the world. 



But it may be asked, how within the limits of the 

 same tribe did a large number of members first become 

 endowed with these social and moral qualities, and 

 how was the standard of excellence raised? It is 

 extremely doubtful whether the offspring of the more 

 sympathetic and benevolent parents, or of those which 

 were the most faithful to their comrades, would be 

 reared in greater number than the children of selfish 

 and treacherous parents of the same tribe. He who 

 was ready to sacrifice his life, as many a savage has 

 been, rather than betray his comrades, would often leave 

 no offspring to inherit his noble nature. The bravest 

 men, who were always willing to come to the front in 

 war, and who freely risked their lives for others, would 

 on an average perish in larger number than other men. 

 Therefore it seems scarcely possible (bearing in mind 

 that we are not here speaking of one tribe being vic- 

 torious over another) that the number of men gifted 

 with such virtues, or that the standard of their excel- 

 lence, could be increased through natural selection, that 

 is, by the survival of the fittest. 



Although the circumstances which lead to an increase 

 in the number of men thus endowed within the same 

 tribe are too complex to be clearly followed out, we can 

 trace some of the probable steps. In the first place, as 

 the reasoning powers and foresight of the members 

 became improved, each man would soon learn from 

 experience that if he aided his fellow-men, he would 

 commonly receive aid in return. From this low motive 

 he might acquire the habit of aiding his fellows ; and 

 the habit of performing benevolent actions certainly 

 strengthens the feeling of sympathy, which gives the 



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