74 The Biological Errors 



carnivorous animals. This instinct must have 

 existed in man, who commenced by being frugivo- 

 rous. But in proportion as the intelHgence of man 

 developed, instinct atrophied, because it became 

 less useful. 



Thus we see that at the present time animals 

 possess very valuable instincts which we unfortu- 

 nately no longer possess, or which unfortunately 

 are not strong enough. There must have been an 

 epoch in which the first man who dared to attack 

 his fellow-creatures committed a novel act requir- 

 ing the greatest bravery, and this act was only 

 possible on account of the enfranchisement of the 

 human spirit, victorious in its revolt against the 

 hereditary instinct. The man who committed 

 this act was greatly deceived in this special case. 

 In his real interest and in that of his descendants, 

 it would have been a thousand times better if he 

 had followed his own instinct, which would have 

 surely led to happiness. The story of Cain and 

 Abel in Genesis dramatizes a great tragedy which 

 must have taken place at some time in the history 

 of the human race. We do not know at what 

 stage of his descent from the animal world it 

 occurred, but in any case we can see that it is 

 solely as a result of his superior intelligence that 

 man has been able to attack his own kind. 



This analysis shows that there is an enormous 

 difference, and in fact an opposition, between the 

 sequence of zoological phenomena and the se- 

 quence of social phenomena. Let us admit for 



