282 PROBLEMS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION 



of immaturity has allowed the development of congenital points 

 of superiority and inferiority till they are salient, and help to 

 decide the great question survival or non-survival and thus 

 there is less indiscriminate destruction, and more selection for 

 merit. Natural Selection, by acting for a time on the offspring, 

 mainly through the parents, becomes more efficient. Com- 

 munities of animals are no less subject to it. There is no 

 tending of the sick ; indeed those which are wounded or ill 

 are often cruelly bullied, though Mr Hudson tells us that 

 among cattle the lords of the herd are above taking part in 

 the bullying : it is left to the lower and meaner characters. 

 Nevertheless it takes place. In fact, nowhere in wild nature 

 is there to be found, if we except the affection of parents for 

 their young, any sympathy with weakness. The associations 

 are combinations among the strong for mutual defence or some- 

 times for combined attack. If any member of the association can- 

 not contribute his quota, he is allowed to perish, or is even ejected. 

 So much for this side of the picture. We must not entirely 

 lose sight of the other. Though, among animals lower than 

 man, even the affection of parents for their offspring is kept by 

 Natural Selection within very strict bounds, yet we cannot help 

 recognising at this stage in evolution some rudiment of altruistic 

 spirit, some rudiment of goodness. Among men there is much 

 more freedom to deviate from the line of conduct that the 

 welfare of the race demands, and it is, in a large degree, this 

 freedom which makes human evolution so different from that 

 of other species. 



II 



THE PLACE OF MORALITY AND RELIGION 



Scienceand Among men the spirit of mutual help does not work within 



Weaken bounds strictly defined by Natural Selection. The young are 



the action not flung out into the world with the suddenness that a young 



Selection pigeon is thrown upon his own resources. The sick and the 



upon helpless, to whatever cause their helplessness is due, are fed 



individuals 



