PSYCHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION 195 



of ethics from an observational basis. Darwin asks, 

 why does man regret, even though trying to banish 

 such regret, that he has followed a natural impulse 

 rather than a higher ideal ; and why does he further 

 feel that he ought to regret his conduct, while such 

 a course never occurs to animals ? And he answers, 

 it is because the higher impulse, due to sympathy, 

 is continuous ; while the lower one, due to selfish- 

 ness, is temporary. And, comparing the transient 

 impressions of past indulgence with the ever-present 

 feeling of sympathy, he feels that he was mistaken 

 in following the lower impulse. And it is this that 

 causes him regret or even shame. 51 



However, I cannot convince myself that this is a 

 true picture of the improving savage. It seems to 

 me more probable that the moral sense was origi- 

 nated and developed by a primitive method of tabu. 

 The priest, who was at first a magician or medicine- 

 man, enforced restraint on others by punishment. 

 The first offences against the tribe were probably 

 cowardice and treachery. Then came murder, 

 theft, and adultery. Others followed, and a constant 

 enforcement of restraint gradually led up to a habit 

 of self-restraint. Professor Eolleston has objected 

 to this view that the priest could possibly have dis- 

 tinguished right from wrong. He says: "How 

 could the old men praise or condemn, except by 

 reference to some pre-existing standard of right and 

 wrong. 52 However, I cannot see the force of this 



51 " Descent of Man," 2nd edition, p. 112. 



52 Quoted in Mivart's "Lessons from Nature," p. 101. 

 from "The Academy" of November 15th, 1870. 



