

Chapter X 

 MORAL EVOLUTION 



I 



RUDIMENTARY MORAL GOODNESS 



IT will be sufficient to recall very briefly what has been said on Birds and 

 this subject. Where there is no parental affection and no nursing m ^^ 

 of the young, where the eggs are left to hatch as they may, and affection 

 the young have to fight their own battle from the moment of so c ; 

 birth, there we find none of the higher forms of life. Among 

 amphibians there is some first beginning of a care for the eggs. 

 But it is only among the warm-blooded animals that we find 

 anything worthy of the name of parental affection. Elsewhere 

 Natural Selection falls with pitiless directness upon the young, 

 and the upward progress of evolution is checked. In many 

 species, when once maturity has been attained, there is no 

 mutual help. It is each individual for himself. But many 

 animals live in communities and combine against all assailants. 

 Many birds are sociable and make common cause against birds 

 of prey. Monkeys, cattle, deer, antelopes, are examples of 

 sociability. This is so marked in many cases, that it has led 

 some writers to underrate the importance of Natural Selection. 

 The tendencies just pointed out, however, do not reduce the power Natural 

 of Natural Selection, though they alter the method of its work- ^oml 

 ing. It may be all the more efficient when it acts indirectly ; not less 

 in other words, when it acts on a family or community, and not on 

 an individual. In either case it retains the power of pronouncing 

 its verdict. Tiger and tigress tend their young with the utmost 

 affection. But suddenly the affection comes to an end, and 

 the young tigers have to face the world alone. The stress of 

 Natural Selection is as severe as ever. But the sheltered time 



