Chap. V. 
MORAL FACULTIES. 
165 
a deeply hidden feeling. It is incredible that a savage, 
who will sacrifice his life rather than betray his tribe, 
or one who will deliver himself np as a prisoner rather 
than break his parole , 7 would not feel remorse in his 
inmost soul, though he might conceal it, if he had failed 
in a duty which he held sacred. 
We may therefore conclude that primeval man, at a 
very remote period, would have been influenced by the 
praise and blame of his fellows. It is obvious, that the 
members of the same tribe would approve of conduct 
which appeared to them to be for the general good, and 
would reprobate that which appeared evil. To do good 
unto others — to do unto others as ye would they should 
do unto you, — is the foundation-stone of morality. It 
is, therefore, hardly possible to exaggerate the impor- 
tance during rude times of the love of praise and the 
dread of blame. A man who was not impelled by any 
deep, instinctive feeling, to sacrifice his life for the good 
of others, yet was roused to such actions by a sense 
of glory, would by his example excite the same wish 
for glory in other men, and would strengthen by exer- 
cise the noble feeling of admiration. He might thus 
do far more good to his tribe than by begetting offspring 
with a tendency to inherit his own high character. 
With increased experience and reason, man perceives 
the more remote consequences of his actions, and the 
self-regarding virtues, such as temperance, chastity, &c., 
which during early times are, as we have before seen, 
utterly disregarded, come to be highly esteemed or even 
held sacred. I need not, however, repeat what I have 
said on this head in the third chapter. Ultimately a 
highly complex sentiment, having its first origin in the 
7 Mr. Wallace gives cases in liis 1 Contributions to the Theory of 
Natural Selection/ 1870, p. 354. 
