SUMMAEY OF CHAPS. VII TO IX 191 



of isolation has saved us from, and we can the more 

 readily recognise what an important part it has 

 played in nature. 



I have tried to shew that, while the characters 

 developed by natural selection are utilitarian only 

 that is, they are of use to the creature possessing 

 them those due to isolation are for the most part 

 non-utilitarian. Now we may at once grant that 

 these latter characters are not, and never have been, 

 of any use to their possessors. But are they of no 

 use at all in the scheme of nature? Would man 

 have been the same now, if these non-utilitarian 

 characters had never existed? Certainly not. It is 

 the variety in nature that has excited man's curio- 

 sity, urged on his thirst for knowledge, and so in- 

 duced him to study natural phenomena ; while 

 contemplation of the beauty seen in nature has 

 stimulated his sluggish soul, and has developed his 

 aesthetic and religious faculties. 



Natural selection has, no doubt, developed that 

 part of man's intellect which makes him cunning in 

 devising means to ensnare his prey, and to get the 

 better of his fellow man. But this, after all, is the 

 form of intellect which man shares with beasts ; 

 while the intellectual and spiritual qualities, which 

 specially distinguish him, have not been called forth 

 by natural selection. These are largely the result 

 of contemplating the variety and beauty in nature ; 

 and, if natural selection has played an important 

 part in gradually developing the body and mind 

 of man, isolation has indirectly played a no less im- 

 portant part in developing his higher intellectual 



