98 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



fear or love, then we cannot say that such peoples 

 have any conscience; but if there is any sense of 

 oughtness present, independent of expediency, then 

 we must admit the existence of a moral sense, even 

 though weak and undeveloped. It is extremely diffi- 

 cult to answer this question. Of course, concerning 

 primitive man, we can say absolutely nothing, for we 

 know nothing about him. Our only evidence must 

 be obtained by the study of those races of men that 

 stand lowest in the scale of civilization, and even this 

 must commonly be based upon chance impressions of 

 travelers, who are generally incapable of answering 

 such a delicate question; indeed, travelers are usu- 

 ally ignorant that such a question even exists. That 

 the members of the lowest savage races are impelled 

 to certain lines of action by some kind of impulse is 

 clear enough. But what that impulse is, and whether 

 it is different from fear or love, it is impossible to 

 answer. One visitor who sees the looseness of sex- 

 ual relations among certain races reports that there 

 are no rules in this respect, while another finds 

 among the same people definite regulations in this 

 matter, which are adhered to even more strictly than 

 are those of the civilized races. One traveler, see- 

 ing a savage father, in a sudden fury, dash out the 

 brains of his child who had displeased him, concludes 

 that parental love is nonexistent, while another, who 

 studies the lives of the same savages, concludes that 

 the family life is full of affection for the children. 

 One person, noting the prevalence of infanticide, con- 

 cludes that parental love is very weak; another 

 insists that infanticide is a means of showing par- 

 ental love, since it is the only method thej^ know for 

 preventing the lasting suffering which would come 



