The Descent of Man 51 



or by the * higher ' ; and, indeed, it is very difficult to under- 

 stand what can possibly be meant by this 'rising of the 

 standard,' if the ' standard ' is from first to last pleasure and 

 profit. 



We find, again, the singular remark : — ' If any desire or 

 instinct leading to an action opposed to the good of others 

 still appears to a man, when recalled to mind, as strong as or 

 stronger than his social instinct, he will feel no keen regret at 

 having followed it ' (vol. i. p. 92). 



Mr. Darwin is continually mistaking a merely beneficial 

 action for a moral one ; but, as before said, it is one thing to 

 act well and quite another to be a moral agent. A dog, or 

 even a fruit-tree, may act well, but neither is a moral agent. 

 Of course, all the instances he bring^s forward with reofard to 

 imimals are not in point, on account of this misconception of 

 the problem to be solved. He gives, however, some examples 

 which tell strongly against his own view. Thus, he remarks 

 of the Law of Honour — ' The breach of this law, even when 

 the breach is known to be strictly accordant with true 

 morality, has caused many a man more agony than a real 

 crime. We recognise the same influence in the sense of 

 burning shame which most of us have felt, even after the 

 interval of years, when calling to mind some accidental 

 breach of a trifling, though fixed, rule of etiquette' (vol. i. p. 92). 

 This is most true ; some trifling breach of good manners 

 may, indeed, occasion us pain ; but this may be unaccom- 

 panied by a judgment that we are morally blameworthy. It 

 is judgment, and not feeling, which has to do with right and 

 wrong. But a yet better example might be given. What 

 quality can have been more universally useful to social com- 

 munities than courage ? It has always been, and is still, 

 greatly admired and highly appreciated, and is especially 

 adapted, both directly and indirectly, to enable its possessors 

 to become the fathers of succeeding generations. If the 



