THE INTERPRETER. II7 



that the comparatively long duration of human in- 

 fancy is a condition of human intelligence, the period, 

 moreover, being longer in the civilised man than in 

 the savage. While in all other animals, in descend- 

 ing scale, little remains to be developed after birth, in 

 man it is precisely the reverse. The period during 

 which he remains helpless or dependent upon others 

 fills a large portion of his life. Puppies, kittens, and 

 colts are born fully equipped with all the nervous ap- 

 paratus by which they can shift for themselves : they 

 have nothing to learn from, or to add to, the stock of 

 inherited qualities. One generation succeeds another 

 in unprogressive monotony. Whereas, in man, the 

 period during which the nerve-connections and their 

 correlative associations necessary for self-maintenance 

 are being formed lengthens as intelligence becomes 

 more complex. From this much of great import fol- 

 lows. For it is this long, helpless period of human 

 infancy, involving dependence on the parents, which 

 begets the solicitude, the sympathy, and the self-de- 

 nial of which the strands of family life are woven. 

 Carried further, there is the development of those re- 

 gardful feelings for others, and of that self-restraint, 

 which results in the extension of the family unit to 

 the social unit, all which lie at the base of ethics. 



The Gibbon, smallest and gentlest of the four, is 

 about three feet in height. Its arms touch the ground 



