GENESIS OF MAN, INTELLECTUALLY 



nultimate stage of equilibrium is approached. 

 Hence it is in the highest degree unphilosophi- 

 cal to attempt to explain the present position 

 of civilized man solely by reference to the laws 

 of organic and psychical evolution as obtained 

 by the study of life in general. It is for biology 

 to explain the differences between the human 

 hand and foot and the hands and feet of the 

 other primates ; ^ but the chief differences be- 

 tween civilized man and the other members of 

 the order to which he belongs are psychological 

 differences, and the immense series of psychi- 

 cal changes to which they are due has been all 

 along determined by social conditions. 



The all-important contrast ^ therefore — for our 

 present purpose — is not between man and other 

 primates^ extinct and contemporary^ but between 

 civilized man and primitive man. Already we 

 have found that the lowest contemporary man, 

 whose social organization has never reached any 

 higher form than that of the simplest tribal 

 community, exhibits but scanty traces of the 

 godlike intellect, the refined tastes, or the lofty 

 soul which we are accustomed to ascribe to 

 humanity in general as its distinctive attributes. 

 Humanity, zoologically considered, exists to- 

 day, to which these attributes cannot be ascribed 

 without a considerable strain upon the accepted 



' * See Professor Huxley's admirable monograph on Man* s 

 Place in Nature. 



59 



