154 THE LIVING WORLD. 



ethical element of man's nature, though very rudi- 

 mentary in early history, has always belonged to 

 man. Its basis is love. Now love is really a new 

 feeling in nature, at least man is the first animal in 

 which it becomes of importance enough to influence 

 his development. Among the higher animals, such 

 as birds and mammals, we do find a maternal love of 

 the mother for her offspring, but the love ceases with 

 the maturity of the young. Even among social 

 animals there is found nothing that corresponds to 

 the love of one individual for another in its broader 

 sense. Animals combine for mutual protection- but 

 seem perfectly indifferent to each other except in so 

 far as the advantage of the whole community is con- 

 cerned. A soldier ant may sacrifice his life for his 

 colony, but he shows no feeling for another indi- 

 vidual in distress. We would not deny that occa- 

 sionally there are, even among animals, slight traces 

 of what must be regarded as the feeling of love in 

 a higher sense. It is certain, however, that such in- 

 stances are few, and that the feeling of love is not 

 one which can be regarded as having any considera- 

 ble influence upon the development of the animals. 

 With man, however, intelligence and conscience 

 have produced different conditions. Even in the 

 savage tribe a feeling of love for one's relatives or 

 friends, patriotism for one's tribe, self-sacrifice for 

 the good of the community, are characters which 

 receive the highest honor. While then with man, as 

 with animals, the tribal relations may be primarily 

 for mutual protection, it is certain that the feeling 

 of love for one another, the ethical element of human 



