1 32 The Descent of Man. Pabt 1. 



Df the love of praise and the dread of blame. A man who was 

 not impelled by any deep, instinctive feeling, to sacrifice his 

 life for the good of others, yet was roused to such actions by a 

 sense of glory, would by his example excite the same wish for 

 glory in other men, and would strengthen by exercise the noble 

 feeling of admiration. He might thus do far more good to his 

 tribe than by begetting offspring with a tendency to inherit his 

 own high character. 



With increased experience and reason, man perceives the 

 more remote consequences of his actions, and the self-regarding 

 virtues, such as temperance, chastity, &c, which during early 

 times are, as we have before seen, utterly disregarded, come to 

 be highly esteemed or even held sacred. I need not, however, 

 repeat what I have said on this head in the fourth chapter. 

 Ultimately our moral sense or conscience becomes a highly 

 complex sentiment — originating in the social instincts, largely 

 guided by the approbation of our fellow-men, ruled by reason, 

 self-interest, and in later times by deep religious feelings, and 

 confirmed by instruction and habit. 



It must not be forgotten that although a high standard of 

 morality gives but a slight or no advantage to each individual 

 man and his children over the other men of the same tribe, yet 

 that an increase in the number of well-endowed men and an 

 advancement in the standard of morality will certainly give an 

 immense advantage to one tribe over another. A tribe including 

 many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit 

 of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were 

 always ready to aid one another, and to sacrifice themselves for 

 the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes ; 

 and this would be natural selection. At all times throughout 

 the world tribes have supplanted other tribes ; and as morality 

 is one important element in their success, the standard of 

 morality and the number of well- endowed men will thus every- 

 where tend to rise and increase. 



It is, however, very difficult to form any judgment why one 

 particular tribe and not another has been successful and has 

 risen in the scale of civilisation. Many savages are in the same 

 condition as when first discovered several centuries ago. As Mr. 

 Bagehot has remarked, we are apt to look at progress as normal 

 in human society ; but history refutes this. The ancients did 

 not even entertain the idea, nor do the Oriental nations at the 

 present day. According to another high authority, Sir Henry 

 Maine, 7 " the greatest part of mankind has never shewn a 



7 'Ancient Law/ 1861, p 22. nightly Review,' April 1, 1868, p 

 for Mr Bagehot's remarks, « Fort- 45iJ. 



