I 



EVOLUTION AND ETHICS 



PROLEGOMENA 

 [1894] 



IT may be safely assumed that, two thousaml 

 years ago, before Caesar set foot in southern 

 Britain, the whole country-side visible from the 

 windows of the room in which I write, was in 

 what is called " the state of nature." Except, it may 

 be, by-raising a few sepulchral mounds, such as 

 those which still, here and there, break the flowing 

 contours of the downs, man's hands had made no 

 mark upon it ; and the thin veil of vegetation 

 which overspread the broad-backed heights and 

 the shelving sides of the coombs was unaffected 

 by his industry. The native grasses and weeds, 

 the scattered patches of gorse, contended with one 

 another for the possession of the scanty surface 

 soil ; they fought against the droughts of summer, 



VOL. ix 5 B 



