EVOLUTION OF MENTAL CHAEACTEES 401 



deductions in estimating the value of which, however, it must 

 be remembered that we are very largely in the region of hypothesis 

 and speculation. The one thing to which we may with certainty 

 hold fast is the premium upon intellect. 



8. At length the intermediate period gave place to the period 

 marked by the origin of society of the primitive type, denned 

 by the fact that men are bound together by rigid custom. 

 Obedience to custom involves a considerable measure of control 

 of the impulses. Before society of this kind could have arisen, 

 mental evolution must have reached a still higher level. 



Let us consider what is implied. To begin with, the dependence 

 of man upon his intellect for his position in the world accounts, 

 as we have seen, for the evolution of his mental faculties up to 

 a relatively high level in the intermediate period. When this 

 level had been reached, the next step was rendered possible. 

 What was now required was that man should be able to enjoy 

 the advantages of social co-operation. To this end law was 

 necessary. McDougall quotes Bagehot as saying that ' law, rigid, 

 definite, concise law, was a primary want of early mankind ; 

 that which they needed above everything else, that which was 

 requisite before they could gain anything else ', and that : ' in 

 early times the quantity of government is much more important 

 than its quality. What is wanted is a comprehensive rule binding 

 men together, making them do the same things, telling them 

 what to expect of ea.ch other, fashioning them alike, and keeping 

 them so. What this rule is, does not matter so much. A good 

 rule is better than a bad one, but a bad one is better than none/ 1 

 That man should acquiesce in the restrictions imposed by society 

 involves prudence, which inhibits those impulses which would 

 lead to a contravention of custom. Now, fear is a simple emotion, 

 but prudence implies something more. It involves ' a capacity 

 for deliberation and the weighing of motives in the light of self- 

 consciousness '. 2 In order that society might become established, 

 there was thus required a further evolution of the intellect, and, 

 since the advantages to be gained by the establishment of society 

 were so great, there must have been a heavy premium upon 

 evolution in this direction. 



The beginning of the first period in history thus marks the 

 successful completion of a step in mental evolution raising man 



1 McDougall, Social Psychology, p. 284. 2 Ibid., p. 286. 



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