‘Chap. XXL 
AND CONCLUDING KEMAKKS. 
391 
improvement of language. The large size of the brain 
in man, in comparison with that of the lower animals, 
relatively to the size of their bodies, may be attributed 
in chief part, as Mr. Chauncey Wright has well re- 
marked,^ to the early use of some simple form of 
language, — that wonderful engine which affixes signs 
to all sorts of objects and qualities, and excites trains 
of thought which would never arise from the mere im- 
pression of the senses, and if they did arise could not 
be followed out. The higher intellectual powers of 
man, such as those of ratiocination, abstraction, self- 
consciousness, &c., will have followed from the con- 
tinued improvement of other mental faculties ; but 
without considerable culture of the mind, both in the 
race and in the individual, it is doubtful whether these 
high powers would be exercised, and thus fully attained. 
The development of the moral qualities is a more 
interesting and difficult problem. Their foundation 
lies in the social instincts, including in this term the 
family ties. These instincts are of a highly complex 
nature, and in the case of the lower animals give 
special tendencies towards certain definite actions ; but 
the more important elements for us are love, and the 
distinct emotion of sympathy. Animals endowed with 
the social instincts take pleasure in each other’s com- 
pany, warn each other of danger, defend and aid each 
other in many ways. These instincts are not extended 
to all the individuals of the species, but only to those 
of the same community. As they are highly beneficial 
to the species, they have in all probability been acquired 
through natural selection. 
A moral being is one who is capable of comparing 
^ On the “ Limits of Natural Selection,” in the ^ North American 
Review,’ Oct. 1870, p. 295. 
