The Evolution of Morality. 261 



of one but of various forms, and as at least some 

 of them have undergone change and development, 

 curiosity and, even, apprehension may be felt 

 about the finality of our own system of monan- 

 drous and monogynous life-marriage, with its fair 

 train of sweet and pure domestic virtues. Is it to 

 remain forever, or is it destined to suffer the 

 common fate of those evolutionary potencies 

 which, in spite of seeming fixedness, turn out but 

 moments in the life of an eternal becoming, 

 fleeting shadows of something that never is, but 

 always strives to be ? To this question, answers 

 have been given by evolutionists of a speculative 

 turn of mind. And no objection need be taken 

 to their intellectual gymnastics, provided only 

 it is understood they are merely indulging in 

 guesses concerning a matter which does not admit 

 of even probable determination. One needs not 

 to be especially sensible to what Bishop Butler 

 described as the doubtfulness in which things are 

 involved, it is enough to consider our absolute 

 ignorance of futurity, to have the conviction that 

 nothing whatever can be known about the com 

 ing development of society, or of any part of its 

 organization. 



Our knowledge of the family is restricted to 

 the period of its actual existence. This, surely, 



