122 THE REY. H. J. CLARKE ON THE 
toughened glass is reduced to powder when disintegrated by 
the “slightest crac k. But we have yet to be informed what 
constitutes Ss man’s s well-being ; and, as must now be apparent, 
no clue to the meaning of the word is to be found in pre- 
valent desires. 
On the supposition, however, that it is allowable to put 
out of view all volitional aiming at ends, so far as the imme- 
diate question is concerned, would it be relevant to observe 
that the development of every organism in nature strives 
towards the full expression of some type, or the outcome of 
a fusion of types, and gives evidence of an innate tendeney 
to make the best of the circumstances by which develop- 
ment is in part conditioned? Undoubtedly, if it may be 
assumed possible to construct on utilitarian principles a 
science that shall determine the conditions under which the 
eventual appearance of the highest attainable type of man, 
as regards moral sentiments and conduct, may be hoped for. 
But in the first place, even granting the possibility of such a 
science, how are its doctrines to be utilised for the purpose 
of forcing ethical development? How is it to be made ap- 
parent that, in respect to sentiments and tastes and manners 
and customs, the evolutional acquisition of new charac- 
teristics would more than compensate fer the surrender of 
those which inherited disposition, strengthened by habit and 
prevalent example, struggles hard, even when plied with 
threats and penalties, to retam? If among any race of 
mien the infirm and helpless are left to perish, or if popula- 
tion is kept within manageable limits by infanticide, the 
motives to which these practices may be traced are unques- 
tionably utilitarian. Cannibalism may be similarly accounted 
for, and those who are addicted to it are as far trom seeing 
any reason why it would be better for them to have their 
appetites and sentiments conformed to the appetites and 
sentiments of any type of human nature to which it is ab- 
horrent, as an ape is from conceiving the thought that it 
would be desirable to become a man. Howis the “advantage 
of moral evolution to be proved to the satisfaction of those 
human beings who, however certain it may be that they are 
in no respect hopelessly deficient in human attributes, yet 
experience, in the gratification of brutish lusts and savage 
passions, the highest kind of happiness which their com- 
paratively undeveloped humanity permits them to imagine, 
and who are devoid of taste forthe decencies, the proprieties, 
the amenities, the salutary restrictions, and the multifarious 
requirements of civilised life? And from the utilitarian point 
