GENESIS OF MAN, MORALLY 



which the nerve connections and correlative 

 ideal associations necessary for self-maintenance 

 are becoming permanently established. Now 

 this period, which only begins to exist when 

 the intelligence is considerably complex, be- 

 comes longer and longer as the intelligence in- 

 creases in complexity. In the human race it is 

 much longer than in any other race of mammals, 

 and it is much longer in the civilized man than 

 in the savage.^ Indeed among the educated 

 classes of civilized society, its average duration 

 may be said to be rather more than a quarter 

 of a century, since during all this time those 

 who are to live by brain work are simply ac- 

 quiring the capacity to do so, and are usually 

 supported upon the products of parental labour. 

 It need not be said that, on the general the- 

 ory of evolution, the passage from the short 

 infancy of other primates to the relatively long 

 infancy witnessed among the lowest contempo- 

 rary savages cannot have been a sudden one.^ 



^ Possibly there may be a kindred implication in the fact 

 that women attain maturity earlier than men. 



^ In this connection it is interesting to observe that the 

 phenomena of infancy seem to be decidedly more marked in 

 the anthropoid apes than in other non-human primates. At 

 the age of one month the orang-outang begins to learn to 

 walk, holding on to convenient objects of support, like a hu- 

 man infant. Up to this time it lies on its back, tossing about 

 and examining its hands and feet. A monkey at the same age 

 has reached maturity, so far as locomotion and prehension are 



