CHAPTER VL 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL IDEALS AND IN 

 STITUTIONS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 

 FAMILY. 



The history of moral ideals and institutions, 

 though hitherto ignored by moralists, seems to 

 me the most important topic in the whole realm 

 of ethics. Therein is to be found, along with a 

 fuller comprehension, the solution of many of 

 those vexed questions which have never failed to 

 stimulate, and have always baffled, the ingenuity 

 of all the schools of analytic philosophers. To 

 have aroused interest in a matter so significant 

 is no trifling addition to the crown of Darwin s 

 glory. But it was really almost by accident that 

 Darwin stumbled upon the subject. As Saul, the 

 son of Kish, was looking for his father s asses 

 when he found a kingdom, so Darwin, the epigon 

 of speculative utilitarianism, was casting about for 

 supports to his more than dubious theory of con 

 science when his glance fell upon this vast, prom- 



