116 LIFE OF 



was aboriginally endowed with the ennobling belief in the 

 existence of an omnipotent God." On the contrary, 

 evidence proves that there are and have been numerous 

 races without gods and without words to express the 

 idea. The question, he says, is "wholly distinct from 

 that higher one, whether there exists a Creator and 

 Ruler of the universe ; and this has been answered in the 

 affirmative by the highest intellects that have ever lived." 

 The fact of races existing without a belief in a god is 

 shown to be compatible with the origin of religious 

 ideas from attempts to explain external phenomena and 

 man's own existence, by attributing to other objects and 

 agencies a similar spirit to that which his consciousness 

 testifies to in himself. 



Man's social qualities, as well as those of animals, 

 Darwin regards as having been developed for the 

 general good of the community, which he defines as 

 " the means by which the greatest possible number of 

 individuals can be reared in full vigour and health, 

 with all their faculties perfect, under the conditions to 

 which they are exposed." This may be regarded as 

 a more satisfactory expression of the idea underlying 

 the phrase, " the greatest happiness of the greatest 

 number." Sympathy for animals he notes as one of the 

 later acquisitions of mankind, and remarks that he found 

 the very idea of humanity a novelty to the Gauchos of 

 the Pampas. "The highest stage in moral culture at 

 which we can arrive is when we recognise that we ought 

 to control our thoughts. . . . Whatever makes any bad 

 action familiar to the mind, renders its performance so 

 much the easier" a significant expression for; those 



