THE DESCENT OB OBI§i]k OF MAN 175 



I' 



other tribes. In a tribe thus rendered more numerous there 

 ■would always be a rather greater chance of the birth of other 

 superior and inventive members. If such men left children 

 to inherit their mental superiority, the chance of the birth of 

 still more ingenious members would be somewhat better, and 

 in a very small tribe decidedly better. Even if they left no 

 children, the tribe would still include their blood-relations ; 

 and it has been ascertained by agriculturists^ that by preserv- 

 ing and breeding from the family of an animal which, when 

 slaughtered, was found to be valuable, the desired character 

 has been obtained. 



Turning now to the social and moral faculties. In order 

 that primeval men, or the ape-like progenitors of man, should 

 become social, they must have acquired the same instinctive 

 feelings which impel other animals to live in a body; and 

 they no doubt exhibited the same general disposition. They 

 would have felt uneasy when separated from their comrades, 

 for whom they would have felt some degree of love; they 

 would have warned each other of danger, and have given 

 mutual aid in attack or defence. All this implies some de- 

 gree of sympathy, fidelity, and courage. Such social quali- 

 ties, the paramount importance of which to the lower ani- 

 mals is disputed by no one, were no doubt acquired by the 

 progenitors of man in a similar manner, namely, through 

 natural selection, aided by inherited habit. When two 

 tribes of primeval man, living in the same country, came 

 .into competition, if (other circumstances being equal) the 

 one tribe included a great number of courageous, sympa- 

 thetic, and faithful members, who were always ready to 

 warn each other of danger, to aid and defend each other, 

 this tribe would succeed better and conquer the other. Let 

 it be borne in mind how all-important, in the never-ceasing 

 wars of savages, fidelity and courage must be. The ad- 



* I have given instaucea in my "Variation of Animals under Domestication, " 

 vol. ii. p. 196. 



