364 MAN AND GOD. 



wickedness Is unconscious : the utterly degraded 

 criminal has lost the moral and Intellectual Insight, 

 the conscience and the Intelligence, which the beast 

 has not yet acquired. And even physically, could 

 his life be prolonged, he would revert Into an animal 

 state. For as evil is anti-social, the extreme evil- 

 doer would be outcast from society, and so become 

 unable to secure the manifold appliances of civiliz- 

 ation. He would have to depend for his livelihood 

 on his own unaided resources, on his strength of 

 hand and fleetness of foot. His expression would 

 be coarsened and animalized by his life. The higher 

 mental activities would find no scope for their exer- 

 cise, and the part of the brain by which they were 

 expressed would be atrophied by disuse. For lack 

 of the means of making clothing, he would have to 

 grow a thicker covering of hair; for the lack of tools, 

 he would have to develop his nails into claws. 



Nor is it inconsistent with this view that more 

 intelllo^ent and cold-blooded wickedness maintains 

 Itself In society, and often too In honour. For It is 

 just by Its obedience to the laws, divine and human, 

 by the moderation which, from self-regarding pru- 

 dence, avoids offences which a superior power would 

 surely punish, that such wickedness is possible. The 

 criminality Is confined to intentions, and not per- 

 mitted to Issue In overt acts. A bad man in a 

 modern society is probably worse than a bad man 

 10,000 years ago, because his intelligence Is higher. 

 But his instincts will not be as brutal, nor his actions 

 as outrageous as those of his predecessor. He will 

 be more consciously selfish in the choice of his ends, 

 but he will not be as ruthless and barbarous In the 

 choice of his means. He will, e.g., beware of a free 

 indulo^ence In manslauo^hter, for the conditions of 



