SUMMAHY. 121 



as from habit, following on beneficial experience. Instruction 

 and example, his sympathies became more tender and widely 

 difEused, extending to men of all races, to the Imbecile, maimed, 

 and other useless members of society, and finally to the lower 

 animals, — so would the standard of his morality rise higher and 

 higher. And it Is admitted by moralists of the derivative school 

 and by some intuitionists, that the standard of morality has 

 risen since an early period in the history of man.*' 



As a struggle may sometimes be seen going on between the 

 various instincts of the lower animals, it is not surprising that 

 there should be a struggle in man between his social instincts, 

 with their derived virtues, and his lower, though momentarily 

 stronger Impulses or desires. This, as Mr. Galton *" has remarked, 

 is all the less surprising, as man has emerged from a state of 

 barbarism within a comparatively recent period. After having 

 yielded to some temptation we feel a sense of dissatisfaction, 

 shame, repentance, or remorse, analogous to the feelings caused 

 by other powerful instincts or desires, when left unsatisfied or 

 baulked. We compare the weakened impression of a past tempta- 

 tion with the ever present social instincts, or with habits, gained 

 in early youth and strengthened during our whole lives, until 

 they have become almost as strong as instincts. If with the 

 temptation still before us we do not yield, it is because either 

 the social instinct or some custom is at the moment predominant, 

 or because we have learnt that it will appear to us hereafter the 

 stronger, when compared with the weakened impression of the 

 temptation, and we realize that its violation would cause us suf- 

 fering. Looking to future generations, there is no cause to fear 

 that the social instincts will grow weaker, and we may expect that 

 virtuous habits will grow stronger, becoming perhaps fixed by 

 inheritance. In this case the struggle between our higher and 

 lower impulses will be less severe, and virtue will be triumphant. 



Summary of the last two Chapters. — There can be no doubt that 

 the difference between the mind of the lowest man and that of 

 the highest animal is immense. An anthropomorphous ape, if 

 he could take a dispassionate view of his own case, would admit 

 that though he could form an artful plan to plunder a garden — 

 though he could use stones for fighting or for breaking open 



« A writer in the 'North British Keview" (July, 1869, p. 531), well 

 capable of forming a sound judgment, expresses himself strongly in 

 favor of this conclusion. Mr. Lecky ('Hist, of Morals,' vol. i. p. 143) 

 seems to a certain extent to coincide therein.. 



" See his remarkable work on 'Hereditary Genius,' 1869, p. 349. The 

 Duke of Argyll ('Primeval Man,' 1869, p. 188) has some good remarks on 

 the contest in man's nature between right and wrong. 



