404 
GENERAL SUMMARY 
Part IL 
portant as the struggle for existence has been and even 
still is, yet as far as the highest part of man’s nature is 
concerned there are other agencies more important. For 
the moral qualities are advanced, either directly or in- 
directly, much more through the effects of habit, the 
reasoning powers, instruction, religion, &c., than through 
natural selection ; though to this latter agency the social 
instincts, which afforded the basis for the development 
of the moral sense, may be safely attributed. 
The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely 
that man is descended from some lowly-organised form,, 
will, I regTet to think, be highly distasteful to many 
persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are 
descended from barbarians. The astonishment which 
I felt on first seeing a party of Fuegians on a wild 
and broken shore will never be forgotten by me, 
for the reflection at once rushed into my mind — 
such were our ancestors. These men were absolutely 
naked and bedaubed with paint, their long hair was 
tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and 
their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful. 
They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals 
lived on what they could catch ; they had no govern- 
ment, and were merciless to every one not of their own 
small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his native 
land will not feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge 
that the blood of some more humble creature flows 
in his veins. For my own part I would as soon be 
descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved 
his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his 
keeper ; or from that old baboon, who, descending from 
the mountains, carried away in triumph his young 
comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs — as from a. 
savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up 
