96 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Parti. 



followed independently of reason. Neither can we say 

 why certain admirable virtues, such as the love of truth, 

 are much more highly appreciated by some savage tribes 

 than by others ; 33 nor, again, why similar differences pre- 

 vail even among civilized nations. Knowing how firmly 

 fixed many strange customs and superstitions have be- 

 come, we need feel no surprise that the self-regarding 

 virtues should now appear to us so natural, supported as 

 they are by reason, as to be thought innate, although 

 they were not valued by man in his early condition. 



Notwithstanding many sources of doubt, man can 

 generally and readily distinguish between the higher and 

 lower moral rules. The higher are founded on the social 

 instincts, and relate to the welfare of others. They are 

 supported by the approbation of our fellow-men and by 

 reason. The lower rules, though some of them when im- 

 plying self-sacrifice hardly deserve to be called lower, 

 relate chiefly to self, and owe their origin to public opinion, 

 when matured by experience and cultivated ; for they are 

 not practised by rude tribes. 



As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are 

 united into larger communities, the simplest reason would 

 tell each individual that he ought to extend his social in- 

 stincts and sympathies to all the members of the same 

 nation, though personally unknown to him. This point 

 being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to 

 prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations 

 and races. If, indeed, such men are separated from him 

 by great differences in appearance or habits, experience 

 unfortunately shows us how long it is before we look at 

 them as our fellow-creatures. Sympathy beyond the con- 

 fines of man, that is, humanity to the lower animals, seems 



33 Good instances are given by Mi. Wallace in 'Scientific Opinion, 1 

 Sept. 15, 1869; and mnro, fully in his 'Contributions to the Theory of 

 Natural Selection,' 1870, p. 353. 



