EVOLUTION AND THE HIGHER HUMAN LIFE 2^3 



machine, whose activities are delined by heredity ; 

 its special mode of conduct is just what nature has pro- 

 duced by selection from among countless other forms 

 of living which have not had the same degree of biologi- 

 cal utility. But man alone recognizes vaguely or clearly 

 the ^Svhy and wherefore" of his acts that are far more 

 instinctive than he supposes; he only is consciously 

 aware of the bonds of kinship and economic interdepen- 

 dence. He looks about for the authority which imj)()ses 

 his duties and fashions his bonds, and conceives this 

 authority as something superhuman, until the com- 

 parative studies of evolutionary phenomena reveal the 

 true causes in uniform nature itself. 



According to biological ethics, the fundamental obH- 

 gations of all living things are the same, even though 

 the modes of discharging them may be various. Every 

 individual must lead an efficient personal life by i^ro- 

 curing food, but animals differ very much in their ali- 

 mentary apparatus; among other things they must re- 

 spire, but some are so simply organized that they do not 

 need elaborate organs like the tufted gills of a crusta- 

 cean or the lungs of higher vertebrates. Every in- 

 dividual of whatever grade must also provide in some 

 way for the maintenance of the species, but some, like 

 a conger eel, produce enormous nunil)ers of eggs whieh 

 are left uncared for, while others, like birds, bring forth 

 only a few young, which receive constant attention and 

 protection until they are able to sliift for themselves. 

 Nature has no place for even a human community un- 

 less individual and racial interests are conserved, so 

 that the greatest duties are defniit(>ly formulateil — all 

 else is secondary and less essential. Selfish action on 



