4 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



That habits of mind, induced by circumstances 

 and fixed by heredity, are the true basis of morals, 

 may be proved by a simple reference to facts. As 

 the circumstances of one race differ from those of 

 another, so do the prevailing standards of right and 

 wrong vary all over the world. The morality of the 

 East is not that of the West ; and even neighbouring 

 countries like France and England set up different 

 standards of propriety. Nor is it merely a superficial 

 set of sentiments that are affected in this manner, but 

 some of the most deep-seated of our nature. Let us 

 take, for example, the sense of shame. A Mahomedan 

 woman who cannot be persuaded to unveil her face 

 in the presence of men will think little of displaying 

 the whole of her leg or bosom. Eespect for property 

 is always deeply engrained in a people who have been 

 strictly policed for centuries ; their honesty becomes 

 innate. Subject races habitually resort to methods 

 of warfare that would be repugnant to their con- 

 querors. Lying is a despicable vice in England, but 

 among the Bengalese little or no discredit attaches 

 to it. 



To return to marriage, there is not a single senti- 

 ment of the modern European bearing upon the rela- 

 tions of the sexes that has not been or is not habitu- 



