124 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



CHAPTER V. 



ON THE DEVELOPMENT OP THE INTELLECTUAL, AND MORAL 

 FACULTIES DURING PRIMEVAL AND CIVILIZED TIMES. 



Advancement of the intellectual powers through natural selection — 

 Importance o( imitation— Social and moral faculties— Their devel- 

 opment within the limits of the same tribe — Natural selection aa 

 affecting civilized nations— Evidence that civilized nations were 

 once barbarous. 



The subjects to be discussed in this chapter are of the highest 

 interest, but are treated by me in an imperfect and fragmentary 

 manner. Mr. Wallace, in an admirable paper before referred to,' 

 argues that man, after he had partially acquired those intellec- 

 tual and moral faculties which distinguish him from the lower 

 animals, would have been but little liable to bodily modifica- 

 tions through natural selection or any other means. For man is 

 enabled through his mental faculties "to keep with an unchanged 

 "body in harmony with the changing universe." He has great 

 power of adapting his habits to new conditions of life. He in- 

 vents weapons, tools, and various stratagems to procure food and 

 to defend himself. When he migrates into a colder climate he 

 uses clothes, builds sheds, and makes fires; and by the aid of 

 fire cooks food otherwise indigestible. He aids his fellow-men in 

 many ways, and anticipates future events. Even at a remote 

 period he practiced some division of labor. 



The lower animals, on the other hand, must have their bodily 

 structure modified in order to survive under greatly changed 

 conditions. They must be rendered stronger, or acquire more 

 effective teeth or claws, for defense against new enemies; or 

 they must be reduced in size, so as to escape detection and dan- 

 ger. When they migrate into a colder climate, they must become 

 clothed with thicker fur, or have their constitutions altered. If 

 they fail to be thus modified, they will cease to exist. 



The case, however, is widely different, as Mr. Wallace has with 

 justice insisted, in relation to the intellectual and moral faculties 



1 'Anthropological Review,' May, 1864, p. clvlii. 



