THE DESCENT OR ORIGIN OF MAN 165 



whea calling to mind some accidental breach of a trifling, 

 though fixed, rule of etiquette. The judgment of the com- 

 munity will generally be guided by some rude experience 

 of what is best in the long run for all the members; but this 

 judgment will not rarely err from ignorance and weak 

 powers of reasoning. Hence the strangest customs and 

 superstitions, in complete opposition to the true welfare 

 and happiness of mankind, hate become all-powerful 

 throughout the world. "We see this in the horror felt by 

 a Hindu who breaks his caste, and in many other such 

 cases. It would be dif&cult to distinguish between the 

 remorse felt by a Hindu who has yielded to the temptation 

 of eating unclean food, from that felt after committing a 

 theft; but the former would probably be the more severe. 

 How so many absurd rules of conduct, as well as so 

 many absurd religious beliefs, have originated, we do not 

 know; nor how it is that they have become, in all quarters 

 of the world, so deeply impressed on the mind of men; but 

 it is worthy of remark that a belief constantly inculcated 

 during the early years of life, while the brain is impressible, 

 appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct; and the 

 very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independ- 

 ently of reason. Neither can we say why certain admirable 

 virtues, such as the love of truth, are much more highly 

 appreciated by some savage tribes than by others;" -nor, 

 a^ain, why similar differences prevail even among highly 

 civilized nations. Knowing how firmly fixed many strange 

 customs and superstitions have become, we need feel no 

 surprise that the self-regarding virtues, supported as they 

 are by reason, should now appear to us so natural as to be 

 thought innate, although they were not valued by man 

 in his early condition. 



. Notwithstanding many sources of doubt, man can gener- 

 ally and readily distinguish between the higher and lower 



■" Good instances are given by Mr. 'Wallaee in "Scientific Opinion," Sept. 

 16, 1869; and more fully in his "Contributions to the Tlieory of Natural 8el«o- 

 tlon." 1870, p. 353. 



