134 HEREDITY. 



well said that they who try to prove spontaneous 

 generation to be a fact usually perform their experi- 

 ments in an atmosphere saturated with the germs 

 which they wish to develop. 



Darwin calls to his aid, in explaining the origin of 

 the moral sense, a great number of floating moral 

 germs. I have singled out twelve of these, and hard- 

 ly need do more than name them in his language : 



(1) "Highly developed mental faculties." That 

 word mental is very vague. If by mind you mean 

 the whole spiritual equipment of man, as you some- 

 times do, it includes moral perception ; and so surrep- 

 titiously, or at least unobserved, comes in the very 

 idea of which Darwin would explain the origin. 



(2) " The feeling of dissatisfaction." That is an- 

 other vague phrase. It might mean moral dissatis- 

 faction. 



(3) " The power of language." 



(4) "The idea of the good of the community." 

 A very vague phrase that never would pass without 

 being challenged under the microscope of metaphysi- 

 cal research. 



(5) " The power of public opinion." 



(6) "Obedience to the wishes and judgments of 

 the community." 



(7) "Feelings of love and sympathy." These 

 often mean much more than merely social instincts. 



(8) " Power of self-command." Of course there 

 inheres in the very idea of self-command the idea 

 of a distinction between motives. A clear choice 

 among motives involves moral perception of the dif- 



