The Descent of Man

Marcus Aurelius,' etc., p. 139.)—with the aid of
active intellectual powers and the effects of
habit, naturally lead to the golden rule, "As ye
would that men should do to you, do ye to
them likewise;" and this lies at the foundation
of morality.
In the next chapter I shall make some few remarks
on the probable steps and means by
which the several mental and moral faculties of
man have been gradually evolved. That such
evolution is at least possible, ought not to be
denied, for we daily see these faculties developing
in every infant; and we may trace a perfect
gradation from the mind of an utter idiot, lower
than that of an animal low in the scale, to the
mind of a Newton.