68 
PROOFS OF EVOLUTION. 
XVI. 
LANGUAGE AND THE MORAL SENSE. 
The great difference between man and the lower 
animal is the possession by the former of Language 
and the Moral Sense. This difference as at present 
manifested is indeed almost infinite. But let us 
go back on the tide of time—back even thousands 
of years before the cave-men, when speech was but 
a chatter and conscience was as yet undeveloped; 
then the difference would be a vanishing quantity. 
The higher animals, in common with man, 
manifest joy, sorrow, love, hate, fear, courage, 
fidelity, gratitude, jealousy, memory and reason, 
and these qualities are clearly shown in their 
actions. One dog will watch another at his bone 
without interfering with the right of prior posses¬ 
sion ; but once let it be abandoned, and the watch¬ 
er’s paw upon it, let him take it who dares ! This 
is a recognition of the principle of ownership and 
property-right, and therefore contains a glimmer of 
conscience. With the development of the larynx 
and the brain in man came speech and conscience, 
and all the heights of mind. 
