290 PROBLEMS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION 



Recapitu- It will be well now briefly once more to trace the main outline 

 " of the argument. The blunting of the edge of Natural Selection 

 among men, its failure to eliminate individuals for irregularities 

 that are injurious to the tribe or nation has led to a seeming 

 antagonism of interests. The individual, making for an objec- 

 tive that commends itself to him, adopts a line of conduct that 

 tends towards thre disintegration of the community and Natural 

 Selection does not step in promptly to deal with him and his 

 ruinous philosophy. Morality and religion then intervene to 

 fill the blank left by Natural Selection. 



It is important to notice that while combating vice they have 

 not as yet protested against the propagation of weakness, the 

 possibility of which, no less than the possibility of vicious habits, 

 is traceable to the slackening of Natural Selection. 



Before going further I will point out that much of what I have 

 said, thpugh deducible from Mr Benjamin Kidd's formula, does 

 not actually find expression in it. He was the first to explain 

 the connection between religion and the apparently conflicting 

 interests of the individual and the community. Following out 

 this idea I have shown that good and evil can be traced to that 

 stage in evolution when Natural Selection ceased with unerring 

 certainty to punish personal vagaries, and in consequence the 

 antagonism manifested itself. 



Evolution To some people it may seem that I have been finding rather a 

 l " not the humble origin for great things, for goodness and evil. But 

 same thing when we have explained the evolution of goodness we have not 

 explained its origin in any true sense. I have merely shown 

 that the conditions of human evolution rendered its existence 

 essential and that under these conditions it has shown itself as 

 a favourable variation and has gone on developing, the races 

 who had much of it, having an advantage over those who had 

 little. The origin of goodness is another thing altogether. 

 Without travelling beyond the proper scope of this book, I may 

 say that as evolutionists we are bound to assume that all the 

 qualities that we find in any product of evolution may be con- 

 sidered to belong equally to the force that existed prior to 

 evolution. To apply this to the matter in hand, if goodness has 



