94 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



CHAPTER IV. 



COMPARISON OP THE MENTAL, POWERS OF MAN AND 

 THE LOWER ANIMALS— Continued. 



The moral sense— Fundamental proposition— The qualities of social 

 animals— Origin of sociability- Struggle between opposed instincts- 

 Man a social animal— The more enduring social instincts conquer 

 otlier less persistent instincts— The social virtues alone regarded by 

 savages— The self-regg,rding virtues acquired at a later stage of de- 

 velopment—The importance of the judgment of the members of the 

 same community on conduct— Transmission of moral tendencies- 

 Summary. 



I fully subscribe to the judgment of those writers' who main- 

 tain that of all the differences between man and the lower animals, 

 the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important. This 

 sense, as Mackintosh' remarks, "has a rightful supremacy over 

 "every other principle of human action;" it is summed up in that 

 short but imperious word ought, so full of high significance. It 

 is the most noble of all the attributes of man, leading him with- 

 out a moment's hesitation to risk his life for that of a fellow- 

 creature; or after due deliberation, impelled simply by the deep 

 feeling of right or duty, to sacrifice it in some great cause. Im- 

 manuel Kant exclaims, "Duty! Wondrous thought, that workest 

 "neither by fond insinuation, fiattery, nor by any threat, but 

 "merely by holding up thy naked lav^ in the soul, and so extorting 

 "for thyself always reverence, if not always obedience; before 

 "whom all appetites are dumb, however secretly they rebel; 

 "whence thy original?"" 



This great question has been discussed by many writers* of 



1 See, for instance, on this subject, Quatrefages, 'Unite de I'Bspece 

 Humaine,' 1S61, p. 21, &c. 



2 'Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy," 1837, p. 231, &c. 



^ 'Metaphysics of Ethics,' translated by J. W. Semple, Edinburgh, 

 1836, p. 136. 



* Mr. Bain gives a list ('Mental and Moral Science,' 1868, p. 543-725) of 

 twenty-six British authors who have written on this subject, and 

 whose names are familiar to every reader; to these, Mr. Bain's own 



