70 
THE DESCENT OF MAN. 
Part L 
CHAPTER III. 
Comparison of tiie Mental Powers of Man and the 
Lower Animals — continued. 
The moral sense — Fundamental proposition — The qualities of social 
animals Origin of sociability — Struggle between opposed in- 
stincts Man a social animal — The more enduring social instincts 
conquer other less persistent instincts — The social virtues alone 
regarded by savages — - T he self-regarding virtues acquired at a 
later stage of development — The importance of the judgment 
of the members of the same community on conduct Trans- 
mission of moral tendencies — Summary. 
I fully subscribe to the judgment of those writers' 
who maintain that of all the differences between man 
and. the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience 
is by far the most important This sense, as Mack- 
intosh J remarks, “has a rightful supremacy over every 
other principle ot human action; ’ it is summed up 
in that short but imperious word ought, so full of high 
significance. It is the most noble of all the attributes 
of man, leading him without a moment’s hesitation 
to risk his life for that of a fellow- creature ; or after 
due deliberation, impelled simply by the deep feeling 
of right or duty, to sacrifice it in some great cause. 
Immanuel Kant exclaims, “ Duty ! Wondrous thought, 
“ that workest neither by fond insinuation, flattery, nor 
“ b Y any threat, but merely by holding up thy naked 
“ blw in the soul, and so extorting for thyself always 
1 See, for instance, on this subject, Quatrefages, ‘ Unite' de l’Espece 
Humaine,’ 1S(J1, p. 21, &c. 
2 ‘ Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy,’ 1837, p. 231, Ac. 
