The Destiny of Man. 67 



we belong. Rudimentary moral senti- 

 ments are also clearly discernible in the 

 highest members of various mammalian 

 orders, and in all but the lowest members 

 of our own order. But in respect of defi- 

 niteness and permanence the relations be- 

 tween individuals in a state of gregarious- 

 ness fall far short of the relations between 

 individuals in the rudest human society. 

 The primordial unit of human society is 

 the family* and it was by the establish- 

 ment of definite and permanent family 

 relationships that the step was taken 

 which raised Man socially above the level 

 of gregarious apehood. This great point 

 was attained through that lengthening of 

 the period of helpless childhood which 

 accompanied the gradually increasing in- 

 telligence of our half - human ancestors. 

 When childhood had come to extend over 

 a period of ten or a dozen years a period 

 which would be doubled, or more than 

 doubled, where several children were born 

 in succession to the same parents the 



