X.] IN ANIMALS AND MAN. 6 J 



so because behind its auditory and musical sense there Hes 

 no correspondingly developed mind. 



The same thing holds, although not to an equal extent, 

 between the varied degrees of development reached by the 

 human mind. If primitive man did not possess a mind like 

 that of his descendants, if his intellect and every dependent 

 power became far keener and deeper as the struggle for life 

 went on through the course of ages, it follows that the faculty 

 of perceiving music must also have been augmented. 



It is therefore impossible that a lost Beethoven ever existed 

 among primitive man, nay, I should even doubt whether one 

 could be found among existing Australians or negroes. For 

 the production of a Beethoven there is needed not only a 

 highly developed musical sense, but also a rich and great soul, 

 one that is infinitely sensitive ; and we know by experience 

 that such a nature is only to be found among the very highest 

 intellects. But I will go further ; I do not believe that the child 

 of primitive man, if he were alive to-day, could be raised by 

 education to the same level of musical understanding as that 

 reached by our own children. He would fail for want of 

 inherent power of mind. 



Of course these opinions can never be confirmed, because 

 primitive man is not to be found. But we still have the 

 Australian native, although, so far as I am aware, the neces- 

 sary investigations have never yet been made. But even if 

 they were never carried out, it would nevertheless be certain 

 that primitive man must have possessed lower mental faculties 

 and especially a humbler intellect than civilized man : this 

 conclusion is commonly accepted, and it is sufficient for my 

 argument. 



Hence we may assume that susceptibility to music must 

 have increased during the intellectual evolution of mankind, so 

 long, in fact, as the essential nature of the human mind was 

 capable of being raised. It is impossible to decide upon the 

 precise period in the history of a certain nation or group of 

 nations at which the climax was reached ; for we are by no 

 means sure that the human intellect is not even now under- 

 going slow and imperceptible development. But as a mere 

 suggestion, without any pretence to exactness, I will state that 

 the people of 'antiquity,' viz. the ancient civilized nations of 



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