178 BOMBAY DUCKS 
giving her creatures a large brain, which takes time to 
make. 
Millions of organisms which, properly speaking, have 
no brains, make a very fair fight in the universal 
struggle. A large brain, however, will greatly assist a 
species the moment it is fully developed. It is, there- 
fore, obvious that, if Dame Nature can only hit upon 
some device whereby the young of a species are pro- 
tected until they are practically full-grown, she will be 
able to develop in them large brains, and then that 
species will do wonders, 
Nature has solved the problem. The solution is the 
evolution of mothers. It is obvious that if the full-grown 
members of the species can be made to protect and fight 
for the young ones, their development need not be rushed, 
they need not, so to speak, be hastily put together ; 
time and care may be lavished in the making of them. 
Hence the origin of the maternal instinct. The 
greater the protection given by the parents to the young, 
the greater the time that can be devoted to the develop- 
ment of the animal. It may be asked, if this was all 
that Nature needed—the evolution of mothers—how is 
it that, since this has occurred, all the higher animals 
are not as clever as man, or nearly as clever? The 
answer is that the maternal instinct, while favourable on 
the whole to the species, may be fatal to the individual; 
and if all the individuals perish, what is to happen to 
the species ? 
Animals with young are at a disadvantage in the 
struggle for existence. It probably has happened that 
many races of animals have perished owing to the 
