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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which, in comparatively modern times, have 

 been committed, alike by Catholics and Prot- 

 estants, to appease the supposed wrath of 

 their God against misbelievers." Reducing 

 conquered enemies to slavery is the chief of 

 the bloodless injuries that have been sanc- 

 tioned by the ethics of enmity. A closely 

 allied form of robbery is the stealing of 

 women, which has prevailed in all early 

 stages of social progress. " Often where 

 the men are killed the women are preserved 

 to become mothers. It was so with the 

 Caribs in their cannibal days ; and it was so 

 with the Hebrews, as shown in Numbers 

 xxxi, 17, IS." The stealing of property has 

 been regarded as ethical among many tribes. 

 Coming to the subject of retaliation for in- 

 juries, Mr. Spencer finds that "among human 

 beings in early stages, there arises not only 

 the practice of revenge but a belief that re- 

 venge is imperative — that revenge is a duty." 

 The persistence of dueling and the vendetta 

 to the present day shows that this belief is 

 not yet extinct. Yet, as societies have come 

 into more settled social states, a spirit of 

 forgiveness has appeared and made some 

 growth. " The soul of goodness in things 

 evil " must be recognized in the case of the 

 crude idea of justice embodied in the custom 

 of taking revenge. Even in the practice of 

 this custom occasionally there grow up usages 

 requiring some maintenance of equality, such 

 as awakening sleeping foes or otherwise re- 

 lieving them from a disadvantage before 

 attacking them. 



Considering in succession the virtues Jus- 

 tice, Generosity, Humanity, Veracity, Obedi- 

 ence, Industry, Temperance, and Chastity, 

 Mr. Spencer finds abundant evidence that 

 " the ethical sentiments prevailing in differ- 

 ent societies, and in the same society under 

 different conditions, are sometimes diametri- 

 cally opposed," and he deems this fact enough 

 to show that the human mind has no origi- 

 nally implanted conscience. " It has become 

 clear to me," he says, " that if, among our- 

 selves, the current belief is that a man who 

 robs and does not repent will be eternally 

 damned, while an accepted proverb among 

 the Bilochs is that ' God will not favor a 

 man who does not steal and rob,' it is im- 

 possible to hold that men have in common 

 an innate perception of right and wrong." 



A positive induction which follows from 



the same evidence is then set forth by Mr. 

 Spencer in these words : 



But now, while we are shown that the moral 

 sense doctrine in its original form is not true, we 

 are also shown that it adumbrates a truth, and a 

 much higher truth. For the facts cited, chapter 

 after chapter, unite in proving that the senti- 

 ments and ideas current in each society become 

 adjusted to the kinds of activity predominating in 

 it. A life of constant external enmity generates 

 a code in which aggression, conquest, revenge are 

 inculcated, while peaceful occupations are repro- 

 bated. Conversely, a life of settled internal amity 

 generates a code inculcating the virtues conducing 

 to harmonious co-operation— justice, honesty, ve- 

 racity, regard for others' claims. And the impli- 

 cation is that if the life of internal amity continues 

 unbroken from generation to generation, there 

 must result not only the appropriate code, but 

 the appropriate emotional nature — a moral sense 

 adapted to the moral requirements. Men so con- 

 ditioned will acquire to the degree needful for 

 complete guidance, that innate conscience which 

 the intuitive moralists erroneously supposed to be 

 possessed by mankind at large. There needs but 

 a continuance of absolute peace externally, and a 

 rigorous insistence on non-aggression internally, 

 to insure the molding of men into a form naturally 

 characterized by all the virtues. 



To those who regard ethics as compre- 

 hending only the behavior of a man toward 

 his fellows, the third part of this volume 

 will seem superfluous, dealing as it does with 

 actions which concern directly the actor 

 alone, and only in remote ways affect others. 

 But in Mr. Spencer's view, if life is a deside- 

 ratum, then all conduct which conduces to a 

 complete form of it is to be morally approved. 

 On this basis he shows in successive chap- 

 ters that ethics requires the individual to 

 preserve a due balance between activity and 

 rest, to take sufficient nourishment, to use 

 stimulants very sparingly, to cultivate the 

 faculties with which he is endowed, and to 

 indulge somewhat in amusements. Finally, 

 he discusses two subjects — marriage and par- 

 enthood — that may be called intermediate 

 between individual and social life. 



To complete the second volume of this 

 work there still remain to be written the 

 parts on Negative Beneficence and Positive 

 Beneficence, and the writing of these parts 

 Mr. Spencer "hopes to complete before 

 ability ends." He is, he says, "especially 

 anxious to do this because, in the absence of 

 them, the divisions at present published will 

 leave, on nearly all minds, a very erroneous 

 impression respecting the general tone of 



