Man's Place in Nature 195 



own risk, from under the inexorable sway of Nat- 

 ural Selection. 



When the habits of walking erect, of using 

 sticks and stones, of building shelters, of living in 

 families, began and they have begun among 

 monkeys it is likely that wits would grow apace. 

 The prolonged gestation would perhaps help the 

 development of the brain and the prolonged in- 

 fancy, characteristic of human offspring, would 

 help the growth of gentleness. But even more 

 important is the fact that among monkeys there are 

 distinct societies. Families combine for protec- 

 tion, and the combination favours the development 

 of emotional and intellectual strength. Nothing 

 seems more certain, especially in the light of recent 

 investigations, than that our mind is a social prod- 

 uct. "Man did not make society; society made 

 Man." 



It behooves us to be extremely careful in speak- 

 ing of the factors in early human evolution. We 

 know so little. " In the case of mankind," Hux- 

 ley wrote, "the self-assertion, the unscrupulous 

 seizing upon all that can be grasped, the tenacious 

 holding of all that can be kept, which constitute 

 the essence of the struggle for existence, have an- 

 swered. For his successful progress, as far as 

 the savage state, man has been largely indebted 

 to those qualities which he shares with the ape and 

 the tiger; his exceptional physical organization, 



