The times., 1898-01-30
e The Psychology of Evolution


rights of animals, from a scientific
point of view. This question has
long been settled by Buddhist think
ers, who hold that all creation is one
emanation from God, and that as the
meanest life holds some tiny spirit
striving to make its way through the
endless links of being. man has nc
right to interrupt that progress in the
animal any more than in the human
form. In the Western world, however
the discussion of this question has beer
almost wholly from an emotional and
selfish point of view, the argument
being that cruelty TO animals makes
man himself brutal, callous and un-
fitted TO develop his higher nature.
The question of the rights of animals,
as such, has not come in at all, and
1t has been the generally accepted
view that wherever the suffering ana
death of an animal would contrib
ute 10 the health, comfort, pleasure or
vanity Of man it was perfectly Justi-
fable that the animal should be sac
rificed. Mr.. Evans is simply stug-
Cling upward through scientific de-
duction from hundreds OF facts snow
ing the intelligence and reasoning
mower of animals, to the CONCLUSION
reached many centuries ago -pS lhe
Ruddhist. that all creation is one,
animated by the same spirit, Whlch
differs only in the manner OF ITS man
Hesitation. But he does not quite
dare to draw this obvious conclusion
He suggests it, leads up TO 1t, pre-
pares for il, and leaves the reauer "
go one step farther alone.
In his introduction he touches upon
the instructive feeling Of saNages ana
children that other creatures are
somehow related TO themselves, and
the tendency TO personify even man
innate objects. This intuition as TO the
oneness of created life was a part OF
the Greek philosophy, and although
nearly all the early gChnstahs
held that animals were mere automa :
tons. without understanding and VIII,
there was one notable exception IN
Nemesius. a Syrian bishop, who ap-
peared to have outlined the doctrine
of evolution fifteen centuries before
the advent of Darwin, and to have
anticipated Harvey's discovery OF the
circulation of the blood, by some
thirteen centuries This denial of the
reasoning faculties OF animals was by
the Greek philosophers held to be one
Of the most serious charges against
Christianity. The attitude OF the
Christian church was for many hun
dred years strongly anthropocentrlc,
the existence of animals being ac-
counted for 10y the fact that they
could be used as symbols to teach man
divine truth when not otherwise use
full. In 1850 Jeremy Bentham express
ed the opinion that society would one
day attend to the rights of animals
with as much soiicitude as to the rights
of slaves The theologians, however,
have steadfastly opposed as degrad-
ing To man any efforts TO restrict the
mower. OF man over the brute crea-
ton. The argument Of the entire Eu-
ropean world. with the exception OF
individual philosophers. appears to
have been that there was an absolute
gulf between the animal and human
world which ii would be not only in
judicious but impious to bridge, even
in thought.
In the first half of the book Mr.. Ev-
ans treats of evolutional ethics, trac-
ing the growth Of the ethical senu-
ment from the days of the primitive
man TO the present time. and cites in
this connection some facts which viii
considerably startle the average read
er. He handles. for instance, the tri-
bal idea. which held all aliens as out
laws. whom it was permitted to injure
in every possible way. Not long
ago in England any alien could
he arrested and punished for
the crimes and misdemeanors
of other aliens, although having
no completely with them. The abo-
rieinal Australian avenges an INJURY
inflicted on him by a white man by
-.-lff W .
meets. and it may be added that an
excellent example of the tribal idea
was furnished twenty or thirty years
ago in Arizona. when an injury done
by marauding Indians was avenged by
the wholesale murder OF sleeping
village which had no connection with
the crime and was at peace with the
Government. The white men who
committed this outrage were never
convicted or punished in any way. Re-
Gently some British tourists in Italy
protested seriously against some harm
less features of the Roman carnival,
on the ground that they were 'un-
English" thus virtually assuming that
the British standards were the only
standards of morals, manners ana
taste in the world. This tribal idea
crops up continually, and is often dig
nihed with pretty names by people
who would be very much surprised 10
know that they are upholding a relic
of barbarism.
The tribal bond was later gradual
ly superseded by the bond of belief,
which. as it appealed most strongly TO
the intelligent and spiritually minded
classes, became stronger in many cases
than the tribal bond. 1t was this
which Christ meant when He said that
He was not come to bring peace on
earth. but a sword. Tribal religions,
as Mr.. Evans points out, are non
Moreover. any religion
which partakes of the tribal spirit,
causes its votaries to treat the heath
en- with the utmost cruelty, as beings
of any consideration. Great
dissimilarity in physical characters
tics intensifies this tendency, and Mr..
Evans draws from this some deduc-
tions as to the partition of Africa by
European governments on the ground
that the Africans themselves have no
right to the country He gives some
facts which go to prove that the Eu
ropeans of the nineteenth century are
prone to set aside any ethical rules
which they may find inconvenient in
dealing with other races The early set
tiers of Australia shot down the HARM
less natives as they would any sort
meat. Mr.. Jameson, of Stanley's Emin
Relief expedition. purchased a young
negro girl and gave her to a troop of
cannibals, in order that he might
make sketches OF the way in which she
was torn TO pieces and devoured. Sol
diers in the service of the state, under
the Belgian government, are permit
ted to eat the bodies of those who
have fallen in battle since human
flesh is cheaper than any other sort of
rations, and races who were not can
nibals at the beginning of their con-