200 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



FELLOW-PEELING FOR OUR FELLOW-ANIMALS. 



P e Sympathy beyond the confines of man, 



that is, humanity to the lower animals, seems 

 to be one of the latest moral acquisitions. It is appar- 

 ently unfelt by savages, except toward their pets. How 

 little the old Romans knew of it is shown by their abhor- 

 rent gladiatorial exhibitions. The very idea of humanity, 

 as far as I could observe, was new to most of the Gauchos 

 of the Pampas. This virtue, one of the noblest with 

 which man is endowed, seems to arise incidentally from 

 our sympathies becoming more tender and more widely 

 diffused, until they are extended to all sentient beings. 

 As soon as this virtue is honored and practiced by some 

 few men, it spreads through instruction and example to 

 the young, and eventually becomes incorporated in public 

 opinion. 



The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we 

 recognize that we ought to control our thoughts, and 

 " not even in inmost thought to think again the sins that 

 made the past so pleasant to us." Whatever makes any 

 bad action familiar to the mind renders its performance 

 by so much the easier. As Marcus Aurelius long ago 

 said : •' Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will 

 be the character of thy mind ; for the soul is dyed by the 

 thoughts." 



p , M Looking to future generations, there is no 



cause to fear that the social instincts will grow 

 weaker, and we may expect that virtuous habits will grow 

 stronger, becoming perhaps fixed by inheritance. In this 

 case the struggle between our higher and lower impulses 

 will be less severe, and virtue will be triumphant. 



