BAIN ON THE DATA OF ETHICS. 211 



listen to him on any topic that he may see fit to take up, but also be- 

 cause he regards the work before us as the end and outcome of all his 

 labors, the object to which all the preceding parts of his systematic 

 elaboration are preparatory. The philosophy of evolution, which he 

 has spent his life in constructing, is here to reach its application to 

 practice. With a view to the popularity of the work, this may seem 

 a disadvantage, as comparatively few of those that are attracted to a 

 book in morals have followed the author through his long precursory 

 series of magna opera ; yet the disadvantage is not so great as might 

 be so supposed, for such is the expository clearness gained from long 

 familiarity with the materials, that the work is self -explaining in a 

 remarkable degree. 



Although thus disclaiming the purpose of dispensing with the inde- 

 pendent perusal of the work, yet without making a general survey of 

 its plan and leading ideas I am unable to criticise any portion intelli- 

 gibly. 



The preliminary question necessarily is the definition or province 

 of ethics. What is meant by conduct, and what by good and bad con- 

 duct ? Conduct is the adjustment of acts to ends. As to good and 

 bad, we must i^roceed systematically through the animal series ; or 

 trace the "Evolution of Conduct." The lowest creatures are charac- 

 terized by insufficient adaptation of actions to the ends of existence ; 

 they move about at random, and live at the mercy of chance. But 

 proceed upward from the infusorium to the rotifer, and we find the 

 actions better accommodated to the situation, and as a consequence 

 greater chances of preservation. Move still upward to the higher 

 vertebrates, and look at the superiority of an elephant to a cod ; go 

 yet further, and compare the civilized with the savage man : we find 

 the same expression to apply — the multiplication of activity in the 

 serving of useful ends, whereby life is increased both in length and in 

 breadth. Turn next to the conservation of the species by the treat- 

 ment of the young, and we find the same progress ; in the lowest 

 creatures only one germ in ten thousand comes to maturity. Lastly, 

 take into account the social situation, where individuals act and react 

 on each other, whether for prey or for assistance. There is here a 

 like progress, shown in the like results ; in the lower stages, mutual 

 destruction ; in the higher stages, mutual cooperation, with greater 

 security of life and greater amounts of enjoyment. 



This survey being premised, let us ascertain the meanings of good 

 and bad. A good action is one that subserves either individual life, 

 or the rearing of offspring, or the interests of the society at large. 

 The relatively good is the relatively more-evolved. The highest con- 

 duct of all is what best reconciles all the three ends. Having reached 

 this point, the author asks. Is there any postulate involved in these 

 judgments of conduct? and answers yes, namely, the question. Is 

 life worth living ? which question he briefly discusses, making out that 



