Masterpieces of Science 



will make the conscience more sensitive, and 

 may even somewhat compensate for weak 

 social affections and sympathies. 



The moral nature of man has reached its 

 present standard partly through the advance- 

 ment of his reasoning powers and consequently 

 of a just public opinion, but especially from 

 his sympathies having been rendered more 

 tender and widely diffused through the ef- 

 fects of habit, example, instruction and re- 

 flection. It is not improbable that after long 

 practice virtuous tendencies may be inherited. 

 With the more civilized races the conviction 

 of the existence of an all-seeing Deity has had 

 a potent influence on the advance of morality. 

 Ultimately man does not accept the praise or 

 blame of his fellows as his sole guide, though 

 few escape this influence, but his habitual con- 

 victions, controlled by reason, afford him the 

 safest rule. His conscience then becomes the 

 supreme judge and monitor. Nevertheless, the 

 first foundation or origin of the moral sense lies 

 in the social instincts, including sympathy; 

 and these instincts, no doubt, were primarily 

 gained, as in the case of the lower animals, 

 through natural selection. 



The belief in God has often been advanced 

 as not only the greatest but the most complete 

 of all the distinctions between man and the 

 lower animals. It is, however, impossible, as 

 we have seen, to maintain that this belief is 

 innate or instinctive in man. On the other hand, 

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