348 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [n. ii. 



or injurious to the tribe; though neither the young nor the 

 adults know why they have become established or interdicted. 

 Instance the praiseworthiness of wife-stealing and the vicious- 

 ness of marrying within the tribe." ^ In these ways the 

 establishment of permanent family relationships generates 

 new incentives to action, unknown in the previous epoch of 

 mere gregariousness, which must often, and in some instances 

 habitually, overrule the mere animal incentives comprised in 

 personal pleasures and pains. The good of the individual 

 must begin to yield to the good of the community. 



Next in order comes the genesis of the feelings of regret 

 and remorse, which are the fundamental ingredients of con- 

 science. This part of the subject has been ably treated by 

 Mr. Darwin, whose chapter on the Moral Sense is one of the 

 most profound and suggestive chapters in his recent work on 

 the " Descent of Man." Mr. Darwin points to the important 

 fact, that, while the incentives to actions beneficial to the 

 community are always steadily in operation, on the other 

 hand the purely selfish impulses, although frequently strong 

 enough to acquire temporary mastery over the others, are 

 nevertheless accompanied by pleasures that are brief in dura- 

 tion and leave behind memories of comj^aratively slight 

 vividness. Now, when intelligence has progressed to a point 

 w^here there is some definite memory of particular past 

 actions, the workings of the mind, with reference to conduct, 

 begin to assume a more strictly moral character. Though at 

 the moment of action a man may yield to the desire of 

 gratitying hunger, or revenge, or cupidity, at the cost of vio- 

 lating the rules enforced by social sanctions, yet after\\'ards, 

 when " past and weaker impressions are contrasted with the 

 ever-enduring social instincts, retribution will surely come, 

 Man will then feel dissatisfied with himself, and will resolve, 

 with more or less force, to act differently for the future. This 

 is conscience ; for conscience looks backward and judges past 

 * Spencer, Eecent Discussions, p. 23, 



