158 GENERAL EVOLUTION. 



development ; then (/3), what indications of moral development 

 may be derived from history. Finally (y), a correlation of the 

 results of these inquiries, with the nature of the religious develop- 

 ment in the individual, is attempted. Of course in so stupendous 

 an inquiry but a few leading points can be presented here. 



If it be true that the period of human existence on the earth 

 has seen a gradually increasing predominance of higher motives 

 over lower ones among the mass of mankind, and if any parts of 

 our metaphysical being have been derived by inheritance from 

 pre-existent beings, we are incited to the inquiry whether any of 

 the moral qualities are included among the latter ; and whether 

 there be any resemblance between moral and intellectual develop- 

 ment. 



Thus, if there have been a physical derivation from a pre- 

 existent genus, and an embryonic condition of those physical 

 characters which distinguish Homo — if there has been also an 

 embryonic or infantile stage in intellectual qualities — we are led 

 to inquire whether the development of the individual in moral 

 nature will furnish us with a standard of estimation of the suc- 

 cessive conditions or present relations of the human species in 

 this aspect also. 



a. Belations of Physical and Moral Nature. 



Although, cmteris paribus, men are much alike in the deeper 

 qualities of their nature, there is a range of variation which is 

 best understood by a consideration of the extremes of such varia- 

 tion as seen in men of different latitudes, and women and chil- 

 dren. 



{a) In Children. — Youth is distinguished by a peculiarity, 

 which no doubt depends upon an immature condition of the nerv- 

 ous center concerned, which might be called nervous impressi- 

 bility. It is exhibited in a greater tendency to tearfulness, in 

 timidity, less mental endurance, a greater facility in acquiring 

 knowledge, and more ready susceptibility to the influence of 

 sights, sounds, and sensations. In both sexes the emotional 

 nature predominates over the intelligence and judgment. In 

 those years the character is said to be in embryo, and theologians, 

 in using the phrase, '* reaching years of religious understanding," 

 mean that in early years the religious capacities undergo develop- 

 ment coincidentally with those of the body. 



{h) In Women. — If we examine the metaphysical characteris- 



