EVOLUTION OF MENTAL CHAEACTEKS 399 



capacity, inasmuch as to Neanderthal man, to whom they were 

 superior and whom they apparently exterminated, we must 

 attribute a degree of intelligence little, if at all, inferior to that 

 of the Australians. Of Lower Palaeolithic man we know much 

 less. We do not know, for example, whether he buried his dead. 

 But if we consider the variety of instruments fashioned and used 

 by him, it is not unreasonable to attribute to him, in view of the 

 nature of the general conclusions to which we are being led, 

 a degree of intelligence again but little inferior to that of Middle 

 Palaeolithic man. 



Our conclusions can only be tentative ; nevertheless such indi- 

 cations as we have all point the same way. It would seem that 

 the major part of the progress in the evolution of the intellectual 

 faculties had been accomplished far back in Palaeolithic times. 

 Those living races which, with all due reservations and qualifica- 

 tions, may be held to represent in mental and bodily characters 

 Palaeolithic races, differ from modern European man rather in 

 disposition than in intellect. And it is important to note that it 

 is in the growth of the intellect rather than in the growth of 

 the other mental faculties that modern man is distinguished from 

 his pre-human ancestor. 



7. We may again follow the same procedure as in the last 

 chapter. We may recall the general conditions to which man 

 was subject in the intermediate and early periods and ask how the 

 evolution of mental characters was influenced by them. We may 

 further ask to what degree and in what direction the conditions 

 of life among primitive races influence the selection of mental 

 characters since in general we may assume the same influences 

 to have been at work among prehistoric races. With regard to 

 the intermediate period we have to remember that it was far 

 longer than, perhaps many times as long as, the period which 

 has elapsed since the rise of Palaeolithic industry. Within this 

 period man descended to the ground, spread, if not into every 

 continent, at least far over the surface of the world and came to 

 dominate all other living organisms as no species had ever done 

 before. Clearly he was enabled to achieve this result by his 

 intellectual powers and by them alone. He did not develop any 

 other means of attack or means of defence : he conquered by 

 his intellect. 



In a general way it is possible to understand how this came 



