THEORETICAL BIOLOGY 479 



man is most conspicuous because of his intellectual and social 

 development ; these characteristics, too, have in all probability 

 attained their present height through a process of natural evo- 

 lution. At the beginning of man's descent, cunning probably 

 played the most important role in natural selection. Then we 

 have the living together in families and communities, and the 

 building of habitations, all of which exist among some of the 

 higher apes to-day, and in a condition only a degree more 

 advanced among certain savage tribes of men. From this 

 stage man rapidly becomes altruistic ; the sense of justice and 

 of honor are naturally evolved, and step by step we reach the 

 highest type of civilized man as he exists to-day with all his 

 social, scientific, and artistic faculties. To gain some realiza- 

 tion of the extent of man's development, we have but to com- 

 pare the Australian bushman with the best type of civilized 

 European. 



