64 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



and one of the higher apes, than between an ape and man; yet 

 this interval is filled up by numberless gradations. 



Nor is the difference slight in moral disposition between a 

 barbarian, such as the man described by the old navigator Byron, 

 who dashed his child on the rocks for dropping a basket of sea- 

 urchins, and a Howard or Clarkson; and in intellect between a 

 savage who uses hardly any abstract terms, and a Newton or 

 Shakspeare. Differences of this kind between the highest men 

 of the highest races and the lowest savages, are connected by the 

 finest gradations. Therefore it is possible that they might pass 

 and be developed into each other. 



My object in this chapter is to show that there is no funda- 

 mental difference between man and the higher mammals in their 

 mental faculties. Each division of the subject might have been 

 extended into a separate essay, but must here be treated briefly. 

 As no classification of the mental powers has been universally 

 accepted, I shall arrange my remarks in the order most con- 

 venient for my purpose; and will select those facts which have 

 struck me most, with the hope that they may produce some 

 effect on the reader. 



With respect to animals very low in the scale, I- shall give 

 some additional facts under Sexual Selection, showing that their 

 mental powers are much higher than might have been expected. 

 The variability of the faculties in the individuals of the same 

 species is an important point for us, and some few illustrations 

 will here be given. But it would be superfluous to enter into 

 many details on this head, for I have found on frequent inquiry, 

 that it is the unanimous opinion of all those who have long 

 attended to animals of many kinds, including birds, that the in- 

 dividuals differ greatly in every mental characteristic. In what 

 manner the mental powers were first developed in the lowest 

 organisms, is as hopeless an inquiry as how life itself first 

 originated. These are problems for the distant future, if they are 

 ever to be solved by man. 



As man possesses the same senses as the lower animals, his 

 fundamental intuitions must be the same. Man has also some 

 few instincts in common, as that of self-preservation, sexual love, 

 the love of the mother for her new-born offspring, the desire 

 possessed by the latter to suck, and so forth. But man, perhaps, 

 has somewhat fewer instincts than those possessed by the ani- 

 mals which come next to him in the series. The orang in the 

 Eastern islands, and the chimpanzee in Africa, build platforms 

 on which they sleep; and, as both species follow the same habit, 

 it might be argued that this was due to instinct, but we cannot 

 feel sure that it is not the result of both animals having similar 

 wants, and possessing similar powers of reasoning. These apes, 

 as we may assume, avoid the many poisonous fruits of the tropics. 



