Instead of the highest, man is in some respects the lowest, of the animal kingdom. Man is the most unchaste, the most drunken, the most selfish and conceited, the most miserly, the most hypocritical, and the most bloodthirsty of terrestrial creatures. Almost no animals, except man, kill for the mere sake of killing. For one being to take the life of another for purposes of selfish utility is bad enough. But the indiscriminate massacre of defenceless innocents by armed and organised packs, _just_ _for pastime_, is beyond characterisation. The human species is the only species of animals that plunges to such depths of atrocity. Even vipers and hyenas do not exterminate for recreation. No animal, except man, habitually seeks wealth purely out of an insane impulse to accumulate. And no animal, except man, gloats over accumulations that are of no possible use to him, that are an injury and an abomination, and in whose acquisition he may have committed irreparable crimes upon others. There are no millionaires—no professional, legalised, lifelong kleptomaniacs—among the birds and quadrupeds. No animal, except man, spends so large a part of his energies striving for superiority—not superiority in usefulness, but that superiority which consists in simply getting on the heads of one’s fellows. And no animal practises common, ordinary morality to the other beings of the world in which he lives so little, compared with the amount he preaches it, as man. Let us be honest. Honour to whom honour is due. It will not emaciate our own glory to recognise the excellence and reality of others, or to come face to face with our own frailties. We _are_ our brother’s keeper. Our brethren are they that feel. Let us universalise. Our thoughts and sympathies have been too long wingless. _The Universe is our Country_, and our Kindred are the Populations that Mount. _It is well_—it is eminently well, for it is godlike—_to send our Magnanimity to the Dusts and the Deeps_, _our Sunrises to the Uttermost Isles_, _and our_ _Charity to the Stars_. 1. Romanes: _Animal Intelligence_; New York, 1899. 2. Kropotkin: _Mutual Aid a Factor of Evolution_; New York, 1902. THE ETHICAL KINSHIP I. Human Nature a Product of the Jungle II. Egoism and Altruism III. The Ethics of the Savage IV. The Ethics of the Ancient V. Modern Ethics VI. The Ethics of Human Beings Toward Non-human Beings VII. The Origin of Provincialism VIII. Universal Ethics IX. The Psychology of Altruism X. Anthropocentric Ethics XI. Ethical Implications of Evolution XII. Conclusion THE ETHICAL KINSHIP