MORAL FACULTIES. 140 



blame. The rudest savages feel the sentiment of glory, as 

 they clearly show by preserving the trophies of their 

 prowess, by their habit of excessive boasting, and even by 

 the extreme care which they take of their personal appear- 

 ance and decorations; for unless they regarded the opinion 

 of their comrades such habits would be senseless. 



They certainly feel shame at the breach of some of their 

 lesser rules, and apparently remorse, as shown by the case 

 of the Australian who grew thin and could not rest from 

 having delayed to murder some other woman so as to pro- 

 pitiate his dead wife's spirit. Though 1 have not met with 

 any other recorded case, it is scarcely credible that a savage 

 who will sacrifice his life rather than betray his tribe, or one 

 who will deliver himself up as a prisoner rather than break 

 his parole,* would not feel remorse in his inmost soul if he 

 had failed in a duty which he held sacred. 



We may therefore conclude that primeval man, at a very 

 remote period, was influenced by the praise and blame of 

 his fellows. It is obvious that the members of the same 

 tribs would approve of conduct which appeared to them to 

 be for the general good, and would reprobate that which 

 appeared evil. To do good unto others to do unto others as 

 ye would they should do unto you is the foundation stone 

 of morality. It is, therefore, hardly possible to exaggerate 

 the importance during rude times of the love of praise and 

 the dread of blame. A man who was not impelled by any 

 deep, instinctive feeling, to sacrifice his life for the good 

 of others, yet was roused to such actions by a sense of 

 glory, would by his example excite the same wish for glory 

 in other men, and would strengthen by exercise the noble 

 feeling of admiration. He might thus do far more good to 

 his tribe than by begetting offspring with a tendency to 

 inherit his own high character. 



With increased experience and reason, man perceives the 

 more remote consequences cf his actions, and the self-regard- 

 ing virtues, such as temperance, chastity, etc., which during 

 early times are, as we have before seen, utterly disregarded, 

 come to be highly esteemed or even held sacred. I need 

 not, however, repeat what I have said on this head in the 

 fourth chapter. Ultimately our moral sense or conscience 

 becomes a highly complex sentiment originating in the 



*Mr. Wallace gives cases in his "Contributions to the Theory of 

 Natural Selection," 1870, p. 854. 



