Early Anthroj/ofoyirdI ReMcarchen 83 



singlit-handMl u^iiiiiRt rivalH who with cjipahli* uf liaiidiiig tlu-mM^lvoii into tribca. AfTectioii for 



othcrH OH woll lis fur wlf, jh tlier(!f(»rti i\ lu'fOKsary juirt of Hniiiinl cliartic-tor. Diiiiiit i. ..!..,.„, 



is as luuientJAl to ii hriitii'H wt!lM)einf{ lUi MclfiHlincHM. No nniiiinl lirc-fl for itwif Klnr 'i, 



at ItttiMt occasionally, for its parent, its mate, iu olFsprinK ami itH follow. ('■ ,~ 



fr(H|u<!ntly inon- ){'°'kt*'f"l ^" <^" aiiiiiial than aliun<laiil ftxMl Hut iliHint^'n •■ 



niorf noit'Nsary Ui man than to any other animal, liucauHO of tli< ' ' ,^1^ 



cliildliiNHl, anil also liccaiisn uf his great KiM-ial noe<lH, line to his |<i /a 



law of natural seleetion woiilil therefore Ih< ex|M'el<Kl to develop iIk-.m- mhIiiiiiiiI.-, .hhmh^^ mm-ii, 

 ov(>n aTiiiing the lowest harliarians, to a i;reat«'r degrw* than ainotig animals. I Ix-lieM' timt uur 

 religious .siMitiments spring priiimrdy from the.su four houixm'm." (pp. ;}'J3-|.) 



"In the same way as 1 sliowisi in my previous pa|M-r that hy selecting men and women for 

 rare and similar talent, and mating them together, generation afttT generation, an extranriliiiarily 

 gifl4)d race might Im> developed; so a yet more rigid .selection, having regard to thoir nionil nature, 

 would, I l>elieve, result in a no less niarke<) improvement of their natural diHptwition'." (p. 325.) 



In short (Jalton puts forth as his faith, that morality and the reHgious 

 sfutinients ho far from being inexplicable on the luisis of natural selection, 

 as Huxley thought them, are its direct products. He thought tliat until a 

 society has developed under natural selection a morality, religiotis sentinients 

 and an instinct of continiious steady labour it would never be stable, and 

 these thoughts suggested his later researches into social stal/ihty^ Inde<'<l 

 power of continuous steady work, prolonged or late development and taine- 

 ness^ of di.spo.sition are tlit^ three features which dilFerentiate for CJalton 

 civilised man from the savage. }Ie goes on to consider some of the effects of 

 civilisation in diminishing the rigour of natural selection. It preserves 

 weakly lives that would perish in bjxrbarous lands. Above all he emphasises 

 the ill-ertects of inherited wealth. 



'"The sickly children of a wealthy family have a lietter chance of living and rearing offspring 

 than the stalwart children of a poor one.' 'Poverty is more adverse to early marriages than is 

 natural bad temper or inferiority of intellect.' 'Scrofula and mailness are naturalised among 

 us hy wealth ; 8hort-sighte<lne.ss is becoming .so.' 'There seems no limit to the morbific tendencies 

 of hotly or mind that might accumulate in a land where primogeniture was general, and where 

 riches were more esteemed than personal qualities.'" 



Such are a few of Galton's aphorisms. He again and again points out 

 how little value there is in a 'noble' descent, for generally the 'nobility' of 

 a family is represented by a few slender rills amid a superfluity of non-noble 

 sources. Nor is there, he holds, any limit 



"to the intellectual and moral grandeur of nature that might lx> introdueetl into aristocratic 

 families, if their representiitives, who have such rare privilege in winning wives that pleaao 

 them best, should invariably, generation after generation, marry with a view of transmitting 

 these noble qualities to their descendants." (p. 326.) 



' (Jalton cites as an illustration of the alteration of natural <li ' ition of 



the North American people, the seleetion of the emigrants from the n. ive and 



rebellious classes of Europe. "If we estimate the moral character of Aiiiericiius from their 

 present social .state we shall find it to be just what we might ex|K!ct from such a jmrentage!" 

 I do not cite Galton's estimate because I think it truer when he wrote than tOHlay, jHirtly owing 

 to the change in the nature of emigrants, and partly owing to the same sort of natural selection 

 within that nation itself. 



° His schedule on this subject will bo referre<l to in a later chapter. 



' By 'lameness of disposition' Galton denotes the opposite to wild and irregular disposition, 

 the untAmeable restlessness which is innate in the savage and to some extent iii the gypsy. 



11— i 



