HUMAN AND ANIMAL EVOLUTION CONTRASTED 5 



3'onng child. The child, however, goes on to higher 

 thinking, while the animal stops here, and the real 

 question is, therefore, why the animal stops and the 

 child goes on. The illustration will serve, however, 

 to show how it may be claimed that even in the line 

 of forming concepts man differs from the higher 

 animals in degree only. 



Along the line of the moral sense, or conscience, 

 a somewhat similar reasoning has been used. It has 

 hardly been claimed by anyone that any animal has 

 a moral sense. No one has ever suggested sending 

 missionaries to the animals in the jungle. But it is 

 pointed out that many animals have impulses that 

 are imperative, urging them into definite courses of 

 action which are for the benefit of the species but 

 may be fatal to the individual. The salmon is im- 

 pelled by an irresistible impulse to ascend the rivers 

 at the time of spawning. That this is for the benefit 

 of the species is probable, but it certainly results in 

 the death of the individuals by millions. A tiger will 

 sacrifice her life for her young. In these actions 

 there are certainly points of resemblance to the 

 action of a martyr who sacrifices his life for a prin- 

 ciple, and this latter action we call moral. 



Thus it appears that doubts have arisen whether 

 there are any real lines that can be drawn between 

 man and animals which do not disappear upon care- 

 ful study. That there is a vast difference, however, 

 is perfectly apjiarent, and this difference must be 

 found along the lines pointed out, that is, in the 

 formation of language and concepts, and in the de- 

 velopment of the moral sense and the consequences 

 that have resulted from it. 



To these differences it may be perhaps possible to 



