[_Originally read before the Anthropological Institute, and
afterwards published in _Mind, _for January,_ 1876.]
While discussing with two members of the Anthropological Institute the
work to be undertaken by its psychological section, I made certain
suggestions which they requested me to put in writing. When reminded,
some months after, of the promise I had made to do this, I failed to
recall the particular suggestions referred to; but in the endeavour to
remember them, I was led to glance over the whole subject of comparative
human psychology. Hence resulted the following paper.
That making a general survey is useful as a preliminary to deliberate
study, either of a whole or of any part, scarcely needs showing.
Vagueness of thought accompanies the wandering about in a region without
known bounds or landmarks. Attention devoted to some portion of a
subject in ignorance of its connexion with the rest, leads to untrue
conceptions. The whole cannot be rightly conceived without some
knowledge of the parts; and no part can be rightly conceived out of
relation to the whole.
To map out the Comparative Psychology of Man must also conduce to the
more methodic carrying on of inquiries. In this, as in other things,
division of labour will facilitate progress; and that there may be
division of labour, the work itself must be systematically divided.
We may conveniently separate the entire subject into three main
divisions, and may arrange them in the order of increasing speciality.
The first division will treat of the degrees of mental evolution of
different human types, generally considered: taking account of both the
mass of mental manifestation and the complexity of mental manifestation.
This division will include the relations of these characters to physical
characters--the bodily mass and structure, and the cerebral mass and
structure. It will also include inquiries concerning the time taken in
completing mental evolution, and the time during which adult mental
power lasts; as well as certain most general traits of mental action,
such as the greater or less persistence of emotions and of intellectual
processes. The connexion between the general mental type and the general
social type should also be here dealt with.
In the second division may be conveniently placed apart, inquiries
concerning the relative mental natures of the sexes in each race. Under
it will come such questions as these:--What differences of mental mass
and mental complexity, if any, existing between males and females, are
common to all races? Do such differences vary in degree, or in kind, or
in both? Are there reasons for thinking that they are liable to change
by increase or decrease? What relations do they bear in each case to the
habits of life, the domestic arrangements, and the social arrangements?
This division should also include in its scope the sentiments of the
sexes towards one another, considered as varying quantitatively and
qualitatively; as well as their respective sentiments towards offspring,
similarly varying.
For the third division of inquiries may be reserved the more special
mental traits distinguishing different types of men. One class of such
specialities results from differences of proportion among faculties
possessed in common; and another class results from the presence in some
races of faculties that are almost or quite absent from others. Each
difference in each of these groups, when established by comparison, has
to be studied in connexion with the stage of mental evolution reached,
and has to be studied in connexion with the habits of life and the
social development, regarding it as related to these both as cause and
as consequence.
Such being the outlines of these several divisions, let us now consider
in detail the subdivisions contained within each.
* * * * *
I.--Under the head of general mental evolution we may begin with the
trait of--
1. _Mental mass._--Daily experiences show us that human beings differ in
volume of mental manifestation. Some there are whose intelligence, high
though it may be, produces little impression on those around; while
there are some who, when uttering even commonplaces, do it so as to
affect listeners in a disproportionate degree. Comparison of two such,
makes it manifest that, generally, the difference is due to the natural
language of the emotions. Behind the intellectual quickness of the one
there is not felt any power of character; while the other betrays a
momentum capable of bearing down opposition--a potentiality of emotion
that has something formidable about it. Obviously the varieties of
mankind differ much in respect of this trait. Apart from kind of
feeling, they are unlike in amount of feeling. The dominant races
overrun the inferior races mainly in virtue of the greater quantity of
energy in which this greater mental mass shows itself. Hence a series of
inquiries, of which these are some:--(_a_) What is the relation between
mental mass and bodily mass? Manifestly, the small races are deficient
in it. But it also appears that races much upon a par in size--as, for
instance, an Englishman and a Damara, differ considerably in mental
mass. (_b_) What is its relation to mass of brain? and, bearing in mind
the general law that in the same species, size of brain increases with
size of body (though not in the same proportion), how far can we connect
the extra mental mass of the higher races, with an extra mass of brain
beyond that which is proper to their greater bodily mass? (_c_) What
relation, if any, is there between mental mass and the physiological
state expressed in vigour of circulation and richness of blood, as
severally determined by mode of life and general nutrition? (_d_) What
are the relations of this trait to the social state, as nomadic or
settled, predatory or industrial?
2. _Mental complexity._--How races differ in respect of the more or less
involved structures of their minds, will best be understood on recalling
the unlikeness between the juvenile mind and the adult mind among
ourselves. In the child we see absorption in special facts. Generalities
even of a low order are scarcely recognized, and there is no recognition
of high generalities. We see interest in individuals, in personal
adventures, in domestic affairs, but no interest in political or social
matters. We see vanity about clothes and small achievements, but little
sense of justice: witness the forcible appropriation of one another's
toys. While there have come into play many of the simpler mental powers,
there has not yet been reached that complication of mind which results
from the addition of powers evolved out of these simpler ones. Kindred
differences of complexity exist between the minds of lower and higher
races; and comparisons should be made to ascertain their kinds and
amounts. Here, too, there may be a subdivision of the inquiries. (_a_)
What is the relation between mental complexity and mental mass? Do not
the two habitually vary together? (_b_) What is the relation to the
social state, as more or less complex? that is to say--Do not mental
complexity and social complexity act and react on each other?
3. _Rate of mental development._--In conformity with the biological law
that the higher the organisms the longer they take to evolve, members of
the inferior human races may be expected to complete their mental
evolution sooner than members of the superior races; and we have
evidence that they do this. Travellers from many regions comment, now on
the great precocity of children among savage and semi-civilized peoples,
and now on the early arrest of their mental progress. Though we scarcely
need more proofs that this general contrast exists, there remains to be
asked the question, whether it is consistently maintained throughout all
groups of races, from the lowest to the highest--whether, say, the
Australian differs in this respect from the Hindu, as much as the Hindu
does from the European. Of secondary inquiries coming under this
sub-head may be named several. (_a_) Is this more rapid evolution and
earlier arrest always unequally shown by the two sexes; or, in other
words, are there in lower types proportional differences in rate and
degree of development, such as higher types show us? (_b_) Is there in
many cases, as there appears to be in some cases, a traceable relation
between the period of arrest and the period of puberty? (_c_) Is mental
decay early in proportion as mental evolution is rapid? (_d_) Can we in
other respects assert that where the type is low, the entire cycle of
mental changes between birth and death--ascending, uniform,
descending--comes within a shorter interval?
4. _Relative plasticity._--Is there any relation between the degree of
mental modifiability which remains in adult life, and the character of
the mental evolution in respect of mass, complexity, and rapidity? The
animal kingdom at large yields reasons for associating an inferior and
more rapidly-completed mental structure, with a relatively automatic
nature. Lowly organized creatures, guided almost entirely by reflex
actions, are in but small degrees changeable by individual experiences.
As the nervous structure complicates, its actions become less rigorously
confined within pre-established limits; and as we approach the highest
creatures, individual experiences take larger and larger shares in
moulding the conduct: there is an increasing ability to take in new
impressions and to profit by the acquisitions. Inferior and superior
human races are contrasted in this respect. Many travellers comment on
the unchangeable habits of savages. The semi-civilized nations of the
East, past and present, were, or are, characterized by a greater
rigidity of custom than characterizes the more civilized nations of the
West. The histories of the most civilized nations show us that in their
earlier times, the modifiability of ideas and habits was less than it is
at present. And if we contrast classes or individuals around us, we see
that the most developed in mind are the most plastic. To inquiries
respecting this trait of comparative plasticity, in its relations to
precocity and early completion of mental development, may fitly be added
inquiries respecting its relations to the social state, which it helps
to determine, and which reacts upon it.
5. _Variability._--To say of a mind that its actions are extremely
inconstant, and at the same time to say that it is of relatively
unchangeable nature, apparently implies a contradiction. When, however,
the inconstancy is understood as referring to the manifestations which
follow one another from minute to minute, and the unchangeableness to
the average manifestations, extending over long periods, the apparent
contradiction disappears; and it becomes comprehensible that the two
traits may, and ordinarily do, co-exist. An infant, quickly wearied with
each kind of perception, wanting ever a new object which it soon
abandons for something else, and alternating a score times a day between
smiles and tears, shows us a very small persistence in each kind of
mental action: all its states, intellectual and emotional, are
transient. Yet at the same time its mind cannot be easily changed in
character. True, it changes spontaneously in due course; but it long
remains incapable of receiving ideas or emotions beyond those of simple
orders. The child exhibits less rapid variations, intellectual and
emotional, while its educability is greater. Inferior human races show
us this combination: great rigidity of general character with great
irregularity in its passing manifestations. Speaking broadly, while they
resist permanent modification, they lack intellectual persistence, and
they lack emotional persistence. Of various low types we read that they
cannot keep the attention fixed beyond a few minutes on anything
requiring thought, even of a simple kind. Similarly with their feelings:
these are less enduring than those of civilized men. There are, however,
qualifications to be made in this statement; and comparisons are needed
to ascertain how far these qualifications go. The savage shows great
persistence in the action of the lower intellectual faculties. He is
untiring in minute observation. He is untiring, also, in that kind of
perceptive activity which accompanies the making of his weapons and
ornaments: often persevering for immense periods in carving stones, &c.
Emotionally, too, he shows persistence not only in the motives prompting
these small industries, but also in certain of his passions--especially
in that of revenge. Hence, in studying the degrees of mental variability
shown us in the daily lives of the different races, we must ask how far
variability characterizes the whole mind, and how far it holds only of
parts of the mind.
6. _Impulsiveness._--This trait is closely allied with the last:
unenduring emotions are emotions which sway the conduct now this way and
now that, without any consistency. The trait of impulsiveness may,
however, be fitly dealt with separately, because it has other
implications than mere lack of persistence. Comparisons of the lower
human races with the higher, appear generally to show that, along with
brevity of the passions, there goes violence. The sudden gusts of
feeling which men of inferior types display, are excessive in degree as
they are short in duration; and there is probably a connexion between
these two traits: intensity sooner producing exhaustion. Observing that
the passions of childhood illustrate this connexion, let us turn to
certain interesting questions concerning the decrease of impulsiveness
which accompanies advance in evolution. The nervous processes of an
impulsive being, are less remote from reflex actions than are those of
an unimpulsive being. In reflex actions we see a simple stimulus passing
suddenly into movement: little or no control being exercised by other
parts of the nervous system. As we ascend to higher actions, guided by
more and more complicated combinations of stimuli, there is not the same
instantaneous discharge in simple motions; but there is a comparatively
deliberate and more variable adjustment of compound motions, duly
restrained and proportioned. It is thus with the passions and sentiments
in the less developed natures and in the more developed natures. Where
there is but little emotional complexity, an emotion, when excited by
some occurrence, explodes in action before the other emotions have been
called into play; and each of these, from time to time, does the like.
But the more complex emotional structure is one in which these simpler
emotions are so co-ordinated that they do not act independently. Before
excitement of any one has had time to cause action, some excitement has
been communicated to others--often antagonistic ones; and the conduct
becomes modified in adjustment to the combined dictates. Hence results a
decreased impulsiveness, and also a greater persistence. The conduct
pursued, being prompted by several emotions co-operating in degrees
which do not exhaust them, acquires a greater continuity; and while
spasmodic force becomes less conspicuous, there is an increase in the
total energy. Examining the facts from this point of view, there are
sundry questions of interest to be put respecting the different races of
men. (_a_) To what other traits than degree of mental evolution is
impulsiveness related? Apart from difference in elevation of type, the
New-World races seem to be less impulsive than the Old-World races. Is
this due to constitutional apathy? Can there be traced (other things
equal) a relation between physical vivacity and mental impulsiveness?
(_b_) What connexion is there between this trait and the social state?
Clearly a very explosive nature--such as that of the Bushman--is unfit
for social union; and, commonly, social union, when by any means
established, checks impulsiveness. (_c_) What respective shares in
checking impulsiveness are taken by the feelings which the social state
fosters--such as the fear of surrounding individuals, the instinct of
sociality, the desire to accumulate property, the sympathetic feelings,
the sentiment of justice? These, which require a social environment for
their development, all of them involve imaginations of consequences more
or less distant; and thus imply checks upon the promptings of the
simpler passions. Hence arise the questions--In what order, in what
degrees, and in what combinations, do they come into play?
7. One further general inquiry of a different kind may be added. What
effect is produced on mental nature by mixture of races? There is reason
for believing that throughout the animal kingdom, the union of varieties
which have become widely divergent is physically injurious; while the
union of slightly divergent varieties is physically beneficial. Does the
like hold with the mental nature? Some facts seem to show that mixture
of human races extremely unlike, produces a worthless type of mind--a
mind fitted neither for the kind of life led by the higher of the two
races, nor for that led by the lower--a mind out of adjustment to all
conditions of life. Contrariwise, we find that peoples of the same
stock, slightly differentiated by lives carried on in unlike
circumstances for many generations, produce by mixture a mental type
having certain superiorities. In his work on _The Huguenots_, Mr. Smiles
points out how large a number of distinguished men among us have
descended from Flemish and French refugees; and M. Alphonse de Candolle,
in his _Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis deux Siecles_, shows
that the descendants of French refugees in Switzerland have produced an
unusually great proportion of scientific men. Though, in part, this
result may be ascribed to the original natures of such refugees, who
must have had that independence which is a chief factor in originality,
yet it is probably in part due to mixtures of races. For thinking this,
we have evidence which is not open to two interpretations. Prof. Morley
draws attention to the fact that, during seven hundred years of our
early history "the best genius of England sprang up on the line of
country in which Celts and Anglo-Saxons came together." In like manner
Mr. Galton, in his _English Men of Science_, shows that in recent days
these have mostly come from an inland region, running generally from
north to south, which we may reasonably presume contains more mixed
blood than do the regions east and west of it. Such a result seems
probable _a priori_. Two natures respectively adapted to slightly unlike
sets of social conditions, may be expected by their union to produce a
nature somewhat more plastic than either--a nature more impressible by
the new circumstances of advancing social life, and therefore more
likely to originate new ideas and display modified sentiments. The
Comparative Psychology of Man may, then, fitly include the mental
effects of mixture; and among derivative inquiries we may ask--How far
the conquest of race by race has been instrumental in advancing
civilization by aiding mixture, as well as in other ways.
II.--The second of the three leading divisions named at the outset is
less extensive. Still, concerning the relative mental natures of the
sexes in each race, questions of much interest and importance may be
raised.
1. _Degree of difference between the sexes._--It is an established fact
that, physically considered, the contrast between males and females is
not equally great in all types of mankind. The bearded races, for
instance, show us a greater unlikeness between the two than do the
beardless races. Among South American tribes, men and women have a
greater general resemblance in form, &c., than is usual elsewhere. The
question, then, suggests itself--Do the mental natures of the sexes
differ in a constant or in a variable degree? The difference is unlikely
to be a constant one; and, looking for variation, we may ask what is its
amount, and under what conditions does it occur?
2. _Difference in mass and in complexity._--The comparisons between the
sexes, of course, admit of subdivisions parallel to those made in the
comparisons between races. Relative mental mass and relative mental
complexity have chiefly to be observed. Assuming that the great
inequality in the cost of reproduction to the two sexes, is the cause of
unlikeness in mental mass, as in physical mass, this difference may be
studied in connexion with reproductive differences presented by the
various races, in respect of the ages at which reproduction commences,
and the periods over which it lasts. An allied inquiry may be joined
with this; namely, how far the mental developments of the two sexes are
affected by their relative habits in respect to food and physical
exertion? In many of the lower races, the women, treated with great
brutality, are, physically, much inferior to the men: excess of labour
and defect of nutrition being apparently the combined causes. Is any
arrest of mental development simultaneously caused?
3. _Variation of the differences._--If the unlikeness, physical and
mental, of the sexes is not constant, then, supposing all races have
diverged from one original stock, it follows that there must have been
transmission of accumulated differences to those of the same sex in
posterity. If, for instance, the prehistoric type of man was beardless,
then the production of a bearded variety implies that within that
variety the males continued to transmit an increasing amount of beard to
descendants of the same sex. This limitation of heredity by sex, shown
us in multitudinous ways throughout the animal kingdom, probably applies
to the cerebral structures as much as to other structures. Hence the
question--Do not the mental natures of the sexes in alien types of Man
diverge in unlike ways and degrees?
4. _Causes of the differences._--Are any relations to be traced between
these variable differences and the variable parts the sexes play in the
business of life? Assuming the cumulative effects of habit on function
and structure, as well as the limitation of heredity by sex, it is to be
expected that if, in any society, the activities of one sex, generation
after generation, differ from those of the other, there will arise
sexual adaptations of mind. Some instances in illustration may be named.
Among the Africans of Loango and other districts, as also among some of
the Indian Hill-tribes, the men and women are strongly contrasted as
respectively inert and energetic: the industry of the women having
apparently become so natural to them that no coercion is needed. Of
course, such facts suggest an extensive series of questions. Limitation
of heredity by sex may account both for those sexual differences of mind
which distinguish men and women in all races, and for those which
distinguish them in each race, or each society. An interesting
subordinate inquiry may be, how far such mental differences are inverted
in cases where there is inversion of social and domestic relations; as
among those Khasi Hill-tribes, whose women have so far the upper hand
that they turn off their husbands in a summary way if they displease
them.
5. _Mental modifiability in the two sexes._--Along with comparisons of
races in respect of mental plasticity may go parallel comparisons of the
sexes in each race. Is it true always, as it appears to be generally
true, that women are less modifiable than men? The relative conservatism
of women--their greater adhesion to established ideas and practices--is
manifest in many civilized and semi-civilized societies. Is it so among
the uncivilized? A curious instance of stronger attachment to custom in
women than in men is given by Dalton, as occurring among the Juangs, one
of the lowest wild tribes of Bengal. Until recently the only dress of
both sexes was something less than that which the Hebrew legend gives to
Adam and Eve. Years ago the men were led to adopt a cloth bandage round
the loins, in place of the bunch of leaves; but the women adhered to the
aboriginal habit: a conservatism shown where it might have been least
expected.
6. _The sexual sentiment._--Results of value may be looked for from
comparisons of races made to determine the amounts and characters of the
higher feelings to which the relation of the sexes gives rise. The
lowest varieties of mankind have but small endowments of these feelings.
Among varieties of higher types, such as the Malayo-Polynesians, these
feelings seem considerably developed: the Dyaks, for instance, sometimes
display them in great strength. Speaking generally, they appear to
become stronger with the advance of civilization. Several subordinate
inquiries may be named. (_a_) How far is development of the sexual
sentiment dependent upon intellectual advance--upon growth of
imaginative power? (_b_) How far is it related to emotional advance; and
especially to evolution of those emotions which originate from sympathy?
What are its relations to polyandry and polygyny? (_c_) Does it not
tend towards, and is it not fostered by, monogamy? (_d_) What connexion
has it with maintenance of the family bond, and the consequent better
rearing of children?
III.--Under the third head, to which we may now pass come the more
special traits of the different races.
1. _Imitativeness._--One of the characteristics in which the lower types
of men show us a smaller departure from reflex action than do the higher
types, is their strong tendency to mimic the motions and sounds made by
others--an almost involuntary habit which travellers find it difficult
to check. This meaningless repetition, which seems to imply that the
idea of an observed action cannot be framed in the mind of the observer
without tending forthwith to discharge itself in the action conceived
(and every ideal action is a nascent form of the consciousness
accompanying performance of such action), evidently diverges but little
from the automatic; and decrease of it is to be expected along with
increase of self-regulating power. This trait of automatic mimicry is
evidently allied with that less automatic mimicry which shows itself in
greater persistence of customs. For customs adopted by each generation
from the last without thought or inquiry, imply a tendency to imitate
which overmasters critical and sceptical tendencies: so maintaining
habits for which no reasons can be given. The decrease of this
irrational mimicry, strongest in the lowest savage and feeblest in the
highest of the civilized, should be studied along with the successively
higher stages of social life, as being at once an aid and a hindrance to
civilization: an aid in so far as it gives that fixity to the social
organization without which a society cannot survive; a hindrance in so
far as it offers resistance to changes of social organization that have
become desirable.
2. _Incuriosity._--Projecting our own natures into the circumstances of
the savage, we imagine ourselves as marvelling greatly on first seeing
the products and appliances of civilized life. But we err in supposing
that the savage has feelings such as we should have in his place. Want
of rational curiosity respecting these incomprehensible novelties, is a
trait remarked of the lowest races wherever found; and the
partially-civilized races are distinguished from them as exhibiting
rational curiosity. The relation of this trait to the intellectual
nature, to the emotional nature, and to the social state, should be
studied.
3. _Quality of thought._--Under this vague head may be placed many sets
of inquiries, each of them extensive--(_a_) The degree of generality of
the ideas; (_b_) the degree of abstractness of the ideas; (_c_) the
degree of definiteness of the ideas; (_d_) the degree of coherence of
the ideas; (_e_) the extent to which there have been developed such
notions as those of _class_, of _cause_, of _uniformity_, of _law_, of
_truth_. Many conceptions which have become so familiar to us that we
assume them to be the common property of all minds, are no more
possessed by the lowest savages than they are by our own children; and
comparisons of types should be so made as to elucidate the processes by
which such conceptions are reached. The development under each head has
to be observed--(_a_) independently in its successive stages; (_b_) in
connexion with the co-operative intellectual conceptions; (_c_) in
connexion with the progress of language, of the arts, and of social
organization. Already linguistic phenomena have been used in aid of such
inquiries; and more systematic use of them should be made. Not only the
number of general words, and the number of abstract words, in a people's
vocabulary should be taken as evidence, but also their _degrees_ of
generality and abstractness; for there are generalities of the first,
second, third, &c., orders, and abstractions similarly ascending. _Blue_
is an abstraction referring to one class of impressions derived from
visible objects; _colour_ is a higher abstraction referring to many such
classes of visual impressions; _property_ is a still higher
abstraction referring to classes of impressions received not through the
eyes alone, but through other sense-organs. If generalities and
abstractions were arranged in the order of their extensiveness and in
the order of their grades, tests would be obtained which, applied to the
vocabularies of the uncivilized, would yield definite evidence of the
intellectual stages reached.
4. _Peculiar aptitudes._--To such specialities of intelligence as mark
different degrees of evolution, have to be added minor ones related to
modes of life: the kinds and degrees of faculty which have become
organized in adaptation to daily habits--skill in the use of weapons,
powers of tracking, quick discrimination of individual objects. And
under this head may fitly come inquiries concerning some
race-peculiarities of the aesthetic class, not at present explicable.
While the remains from the Dordogne caves show us that their
inhabitants, low as we must suppose them to have been, could represent
animals, both by drawing and carving, with some degree of fidelity;
there are existing races, probably higher in other respects, who seem
scarcely capable of recognizing pictorial representations. Similarly
with the musical faculty. Almost or quite wanting in some inferior
races, we find it in other races not of high grade, developed to an
unexpected degree: instance the Negroes, some of whom are so innately
musical, that, as I have been told by a missionary among them, the
children in native schools when taught European psalm-tunes,
spontaneously sing seconds to them. Whether any causes can be discovered
for race peculiarities of this kind, is a question of interest.
5. _Specialities of emotional nature._--These are worthy of careful
study, as being intimately related to social phenomena--to the
possibility of social progress, and to the nature of the social
structure. Among others to be noted there are--(_a_) Gregariousness or
sociality--a trait in the strength of which races differ widely: some,
as the Mantras, being almost indifferent to social intercourse; some
being unable to dispense with it. Obviously the degree of this desire
for the presence of fellow-men, affects greatly the formation of social
groups, and consequently influences social progress. (_b_) Intolerance
of restraint. Men of some inferior types, as the Mapuche, are
ungovernable; while those of other types, no higher in grade, not only
submit to restraint, but admire the persons exercising it. These
contrasted natures have to be observed in connexion with social
evolution; to the early stages of which they are respectively
antagonistic and favourable. (_c_) The desire for praise is a trait
which, common to all races, high and low, varies considerably in degree.
There are quite inferior races, as some of those in the Pacific States,
whose members sacrifice without stint to gain the applause which lavish
generosity brings; while, elsewhere, applause is sought with less
eagerness. Notice should be taken of the connexion between this love of
approbation and the social restraints; since it plays an important part
in the maintenance of them. (_d_) The acquisitive propensity. This, too,
is a character the degrees of which, and the relations of which to the
social state, have to be especially noted. The desire for property grows
along with the possibility of gratifying it; and this, extremely small
among the lowest men, increases as social development goes on. With the
advance from tribal property to family property and individual property,
the notion of private right of possession gains definiteness, and the
love of acquisition strengthens. Each step towards an orderly social
state makes larger accumulations possible, and the pleasures achievable
by them more sure; while the resulting encouragement to accumulate,
leads to increase of capital and to further progress. This action and
re-action of the sentiment and the social state, should be in every case
observed.
6. _The altruistic sentiments._--Coming last, these are also highest.
The evolution of them in the course of civilization, shows us clearly
the reciprocal influences of the social unit and the social organism. On
the one hand, there can be no sympathy, nor any of the sentiments which
sympathy generates, unless there are fellow-beings around. On the other
hand, maintenance of union with fellow-beings depends in part on the
presence of sympathy, and the resulting restraints on conduct.
Gregariousness or sociality favours the growth of sympathy; increased
sympathy conduces to closer sociality and a more stable social state;
and so, continuously, each increment of the one makes possible a further
increment of the other. Comparisons of the altruistic sentiments
resulting from sympathy, as exhibited in different types of men and
different social states, may be conveniently arranged under three
heads--(_a_) Pity, which should be observed as displayed towards
offspring, towards the sick and aged, and towards enemies. (_b_)
Generosity (duly discriminated from the love of display) as shown in
giving; as shown in the relinquishment of pleasures for the sake of
others; as shown by active efforts on others' behalf. The manifestations
of this sentiment, too, are to be noted in respect of their
range--whether they are limited to relatives; whether they extend only
to those of the same society; whether they extend to those of other
societies; and they are also to be noted in connexion with the degree of
providence--whether they result from sudden impulses obeyed without
counting the cost, or go along with clear foresight of the future
sacrifices entailed. (_c_) Justice. This most abstract of the altruistic
sentiments is to be considered under aspects like those just named, as
well as under many other aspects--how far it is shown in regard to the
lives of others; how far in regard to their freedom; how far in regard
to their property; how far in regard to their various minor claims. And
comparisons concerning this highest sentiment should, beyond all others,
be carried on along with comparisons of the accompanying social
states, which it largely determines--the forms and actions of
governments; the characters of laws; the relations of classes.
* * * * *
Such, stated as briefly as consists with clearness, are the leading
divisions and subdivisions under which the Comparative Psychology of Man
may be arranged. In going rapidly over so wide a field, I have doubtless
overlooked much that should be included. Doubtless, too, various of the
inquiries named will branch out into subordinate inquiries well worth
pursuing. Even as it is, however, the programme is extensive enough to
occupy numerous investigators, who may with advantage take separate
divisions.
Though, after occupying themselves with primitive arts and products,
anthropologists have devoted their attention mainly to the physical
characters of the human races; it must, I think, be admitted that the
study of these yields in importance to the study of their psychical
characters. The general conclusions to which the first set of inquiries
may lead, cannot so much affect our views respecting the highest classes
of phenomena as can the general conclusions to which the second set may
lead. A true theory of the human mind vitally concerns us; and
systematic comparisons of human minds, differing in their kinds and
grades, will help us in forming a true theory. Knowledge of the
reciprocal relations between the characters of men and the characters of
the societies they form, must influence profoundly our ideas of
political arrangements. When the inter-dependence of individual natures
and social structures is understood, our conceptions of the changes now
taking place, and hereafter to take place, will be rectified. A
comprehension of mental development as a process of adaptation to social
conditions, which are continually remoulding the mind and are again
remoulded by it, will conduce to a salutary consciousness of the
remoter effects produced by institutions upon character; and will
check the grave mischiefs which ignorant legislation now causes. Lastly,
a right theory of mental evolution as exhibited by humanity at large,
giving a key, as it does, to the evolution of the individual mind, must
help to rationalize our perverse methods of education; and so to raise
intellectual power and moral nature.