OCR Rendition - approximate

present• day, except freedom in action Wherever else we to nothing but law an following cause. But though, whe our ancestors, the e genitors may be cone developed, in each atoly from the one t we cannot take so res we look forward. separates the full-gro . embryo is too impo garded. It is in Darwin's law of nat into play ; and th entered into, which a how, the "individua offspring. I mean dissimilarity among who are born success'vely, while twins, produced simultane usly, are often almost identical. If it were possible 'that embryos shoul descend directly from embryos, there ight be developments ments in every direct on, and the world would be filled with onstrosities. But this is not the ord r of nature. It is her fiat that the atural tendencies of animals should no or disaccord long and widely with th conditions under which they are place . Every animal before it is of an age to bear offspring, has to undergo frequ nt stern examinations before the boar of nature, under the law of natural s lection ; where to be " plucked" is no necessarily disgrace, but is certainly Bath. Never let it be forgotten that m n, as a reasonable being, has the privilege -of not being helpless under the t genial requirements, and that he does, mod which nature examin he has considerable beforehand the relat the examination that to each separate subje It becomes a questi how far moral - mons rosities admit of being bred. Is ther that assigns a limit to supremely vicious or Hereditary Talent and Character. 323 natures I In strength, agility, and other_ . physical qualities, Darwin's law of natural• selection acts with unimpassioned, merciless severity. The weakly die in the battle for life ; the stronger and more capable individuals are alone permitted to survive, and to bequeath their constitutional vigour to future gendrations. Is there any corresponding rule in respect to mor~1 character 4 I believe there is,' .and I have already hinted at it when speaking of the American Indians. I am prepared to maintain that its action, by insuring a certain fundamental unity in the quality of the affections, enables men and the higher order of animals to ~, sympathise in some degree with each other, and also, that this law forms the broad basis of our religious sentiments. Animal life, in all but the very lowest classes, depends on at least one, and, more commonly, on all of . the four following principles:-There must be affection, and . it must be of four kinds : sexual, parental;.. filial, and social. The absolute deficiency of any one of these would be a serious hindrance, if not a bar to the continuance of any race. Those who possessed all of them, in the strongest measure, would, speaking generally, have an advantage 'in the struggle for existence. Without sexual affection, there would be no marriages, and no children ; without parental affection; the children would be abandoned ; without filial affection, they would stray and perish and, without the social, each individual would be single-handed against rivals who were capable of banding themselves into tribes. Affection for others as well as for self, is therefore a necessary part of animal character. Disinterestedness is as essential to a brute's well-being as selfishness. No animal -lives for itself alone, but also, at least occasionally, for its parent, •its mate, its offspring, or its fellow. Companionship is frequently more grateful to an animal than abundant food. The_ safety of her young is -considered by many a mother as a paramount object to her own. The o any obvious law passion for a mate is equally strong. the propagation of The gregarious bird posts itself during upromely virtuous its turn of duty as watchman on a tree, Y2 it may be in the f our own wills. n our eyes, we see order, and effect f f we look back to bryus of our proived to have been neration, immediat preceded it, yet rioted a view when he interval that n animal from its tart to be disrehis interval that ral selection comes se conditions are ect, we know not variation" of the those that cause rothers and sisters anny of unconbut that lie can, fy the subjects in es him, and that power in settling vo importance in shall be assigned A. n of great interest