Chapter 9

_EVOLUTION AND ETHICS._

The origin of morals an inquiry not foreign to the subject of this book.--Modern utilitarian view as to that origin.--Mr. Darwin's speculation as to the origin of the abhorrence of incest.--Cause assigned by him insufficient.--Care of the aged and infirm opposed by "Natural Selection;" also self-abnegation and asceticism.--Distinctness of the ideas right and useful.--Mr. John Stuart Mill.--Insufficiency of "Natural Selection" to account for the origin of the distinction between duty and profit.--Distinction of moral acts into material and formal.--No ground{xi} for believing that formal morality exists in brutes.--Evidence that it does exist in savages.--Facility with which savages may be misunderstood.--Objections as to diversity of customs.--Mr. Button's review of Mr. Herbert Spencer.--Anticipatory character of morals.--Sir John Lubbock's explanation.--Summary and conclusion ... _Page_ 188