148 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



We can perceive that an instinctive impulse, if it be in any 

 way more beneficial to a species than some other or opposed 

 instinct, wonld be tendered the more potent of the two 

 through natural selection; for the individuals which had it 

 most strongly developed would survive in larger numbers. 

 TV hether this is the case with the migratory in comparison 

 with the maternal instinct may be doubted. The great per- 

 sistence or steady action of the former at certain seasons of 

 the year, during the whole day, may give it for a time 

 paramount force. 



Man a Social Animal. — Every one will admit that man 

 is a social being. We see this in his dislike of solitude, 

 and in his wish for society beyond that of his own family. 

 Solitary confinement is one of the severest punishments 

 which can be inflicted. Some authors suppose that man 

 prime vally lived in single families; but at the present day, 

 though single families, or only two or three together, roam 

 the solitudes of some savage lands, they always, as far as I 

 can discover, hold friendly relations with other families in- 

 Tiabiting the same district. Such families occasionally meet 

 in council, and unite for their common defence. It is no 

 argument against savage man being a social animal that the 

 tribes inhabiting adjacent districts are almost always at war 

 with each other; for the social instincts never extend to all 

 the individuals of the same species. Judging from the anal- 

 ogy of the majority of the Quadrumana, it is probable that 

 the early ape-like progenitors of man were likewise social; 

 but this is not of much importance for us. Although man, 

 as he now exists, has few special instincts, having lost any 

 which his early progenitors may have possessed, this is no 

 reason why he should not have retained from an extremely 



flight, are likewise deserted and left behind. See Blackwall, "Researches in 

 Zoology," 1834, pp. 108, 118. For some additional evidence, although this is 

 not wanted, see Leroy, "Lettres PhiL," 1802, p. 217. For swifts, Gould's 

 "Introduction to the Birds of Great Britain," 1823, p. 5. Similar cases have 

 been observed in Canada by Mr. Adams; "Pop. Science Beview," July, 1873, 

 p. 283. 



