The Progress of the Race 
an extraordinary but unchanging instinct. 
*< Show us,” they say, “a single case where 
the,pressure of events has inspired them 
with the idea, for instance, of substituting 
clay or mortar for wax or propolis ; show 
us this, and we will admit their capacity 
for reasoning.” 
This argument, that Romanes refers to 
as the “question-begging argument,” and 
that might also be termed the “ insatiable 
argument,” is exceedingly dangerous, and, 
if applied to man, would take us very far. 
Examine it closely, and you find that it 
emanates from the “mere common- 
sense,” which is often so harmful; the 
“ common-sense ”’ that replied to Galileo : 
“The earth does not turn, for I can see 
the sun move in the sky, rise in the 
morning and sink in the evening; and 
nothing can prevail over the testimony of 
my eyes.” Common-sense makes an 
admirable, and necessary, background for 
365 
