belief in God is not universal with man; and the belief in spiritual
agencies naturally follows from other mental powers. The moral sense
perhaps affords the best and highest distinction between man and the
lower animals; but I need say nothing on this head, as I have so lately
endeavoured to shew that the social instincts, the prime principle of
man s moral constitution (50. The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, etc.,
p. 139.) with the aid of active intellectual powers and the effects of
habit, naturally lead to the golden rule, As ye would that men should
do to you, do ye to them likewise; and this lies at the foundation of
morality.
In the next chapter I shall make some few remarks on the probable steps
and means by which the several mental and moral faculties of man have
been gradually evolved. That such evolution is at least possible, ought
not to be denied, for we daily see these faculties developing in every
infant; and we may trace a perfect gradation from the mind of an utter
idiot, lower than that of an animal low in the scale, to the mind of a
Newton.
CHAPTER V.
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES DURING
PRIMEVAL AND CIVILISED TIMES.
Advancement of the intellectual powers through natural
selection Importance of imitation Social and moral faculties Their
development within the limits of the same tribe Natural selection as
affecting civilised nations Evidence that civilised nations were once
barbarous.
The subjects to be discussed in this chapter are of the highest
interest, but are treated by me in an imperfect and fragmentary manner.
Mr. Wallace, in an admirable paper before referred to (1.
Anthropological Review, May 1864, p. clviii.), argues that man, after
he had partially acquired those intellectual and moral faculties which
distinguish him from the lower animals, would have been but little
liable to bodily modifications through natural selection or any other
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