48 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



by the parental nervous system, becomes so con- 

 siderable that it cannot all be performed before 

 birth. A considerable and increasing number of 

 combinations have to be adjusted after birtli ; 

 and thus arise the phenomena of infancy. Among 

 mammalia the point at which this change be- 

 comes observable lies between the true monkeys 

 and the man-like apes. The orang-outang is un- 

 able to walk until a month old, and its period of 

 babyhood lasts considerably longer. 



The establishment of infancy is the most im- 

 portant among the series of events which resulted 

 in the genesis of man. For, on the one hand, the 

 prolongation of this period of immaturity had for 

 its direct effect the liberation of intelligence from 

 the shackles of rigid conservatism by which the 

 unchecked influence of heredity had hitherto con- 

 fined it. On the other hand, as its indirect effect, 

 the prolongation of the period of helplessness 

 served to inaugurate social life by establishing 

 the family, and thus prepared the way for the 

 development of the moral sense. It is by follow- 

 ing out this line of inquiry that we shall elucidate 

 the question of the causes of man's enormous in- 

 tellectual superiority over his nearest zoological 

 congeners. Meanwhile, and until further light 

 shall have been thrown upon such incidental 

 questions as the inventiveness displayed in the 



