Man's Place in Nature 195 



own risk, from under the inexorable sway of Nat- 

 ural Selection. 



When the habits of walking erect, of using 

 sticks and stones, of building shelters, of living in 

 families, began — and they have begun among 

 monkeys — it is likely that wits would grow apace. 

 The prolonged gestation would perhaps help the 

 development of the brain and the prolonged in- 

 fancy, characteristic of human offspring, would 

 help the growth of gentleness. But even more 

 important is the fact that among monkeys there are 

 distinct societies. Families combine for protec- 

 tion, and the combination favours the development 

 of emotional and intellectual strength. Nothing 

 seems more certain, especially in the light of recent 

 investigations, than that our mind is a social prod- 

 uct. "Man did not make society; society made 

 Man." 



It behooves us to be extremely careful in speak- 

 ing of the factors in early human evolution. We 

 know so little. "In the case of mankind," Hux- 

 ley wrote, "the self-assertion, the unscrupulous 

 seizing upon all that can be grasped, the tenacious 

 holding of all that can be kept, which constitute 

 the essence of the struggle for existence, have an- 

 swered. For his successful progress, as far as 

 the savage state, man has been largely indebted 

 to those qualities which he shares with the ape and 

 the tiger; his exceptional physical organization, 



