52 PROLOGUE I 



days of Quaternary man. With speech as the 

 record, in tradition, of the experience of more 

 than one generation ; with writing as the record 

 of that of any number of generations; the 

 experience of the race, tested and corrected 

 generation after generation, could be stored up 

 and made the starting point for fresh progress. 

 Having these perfectly natural factors of the 

 evolutionary process in man before us, it seems 

 unnecessary to go further a-field in search of 

 others. 



11. That the doctrine of evolution implies a 

 former state of innocence of mankind is quite 

 true ; but, as I have remarked, it is the innocence 

 of the ape and of the tiger, whose acts, however 

 they may run counter to the principles of 

 morality, it would be absurd to blame. The lust 

 of the one and the ferocity of the other are as 

 much provided for in their organisation, are as 

 clear evidences of design, as any other features 

 that can be named. 



Observation and experiment upon the pheno- 

 mena of society soon taught men that, in order to 

 obtain the advantages of social existence, certain 

 rules must be observed. Morality commenced 

 with society. Society is possible only upon the 

 condition that the members of it shall surrender 

 more or less of their individual freedom of action. 

 In primitive societies, individual selfishness is a 

 centrifugal force of such intensity that it is 



