f real, _i.e._ formal "goodness," because unaccompanied by mental acts of
conscious will directed towards the fulfilment of duty. Apology is due for
thus stating so elementary a distinction, but the statement is not
superfluous, for confusion of thought, resulting from confounding together
these very distinct things, is unfortunately far from uncommon.

Thus some Darwinians assert that the germs of morality exist in brutes, and
we have seen that Mr. Darwin himself speculates on the subject as regards
the highest apes. It may safely be affirmed, however, that there is no
trace in brutes of any actions simulating morality which are not explicable
by the fear of punishment, by the hope of pleasure, or by personal
affection. No sign of moral reprobation is given by any brute, and yet had
such existed in germ through Darwinian abysses of past time, some evidence
of its existence must surely have been rendered perceptible through
"survival of the fittest" in other forms besides man, if that {197}
"survival" has alone and exclusively produced it in him.

Abundant examples may, indeed, be brought forward of useful acts which
simulate morality, such as parental care of the young, &c. But did the most
undeviating habits guide all brutes in such matters, were even aged and
infirm members of a community of insects or birds carefully tended by young
which benefited by their experience, such acts would not indicate even the
faintest rudiment of real, _i.e._ formal, morality. "Natural Selection"
would, of course, often lead to the prevalence of acts beneficial to a
community, and to acts _materially_ good; but unless they can be shown to
be _formally_ so, they are not in the least to the point, they do not offer
any explanation of the origin of an altogether new and fundamentally
different motive and conception.

It is interesting, on the other hand, to note Mr. Darwin's statement as to
the existence of a distinct moral feeling, even in, perhaps, the very
lowest and most degraded of all the human races known to us. Thus in the
same "Journal of Researches"[210] before quoted, bearing witness to the
existence of moral reprobation on the part of the Fuegians, he says: "The
nearest approach to religious feeling which I heard of was shown by York
Minster (a Fuegian so named), who, when Mr. Bynoe shot some very young
ducklings as specimens, declared in the most solemn manner, 'Oh, Mr. Bynoe,
much rain, snow, blow much.' This was evi