The Descent of Man

tedly it would be interesting to trace the development
of each separate faculty from the state
in which it exists in the lower animals to that in
which it exists in man; but neither my ability
nor knowledge permits the attempt.
It deserves notice that, as soon as the progenitors
of man became social (and this probably
occurred at a very early period), the principle
of imitation, and reason, and experience would
have increased, and much modified the intellectual
powers in a way, of which we see only
traces in the lower animals. Apes are much
given to imitation, as are the lowest savages;
and the simple fact previously referred to, that
after a time no animal can be caught in the same
place by the same sort of trap, shews that
animals learn by experience, and imitate the
caution of others. Now, if some one man in a
tribe, more sagacious than the others, invented
a new snare or weapon, or other means of attack
or defence, the plainest self- interest, wit-