LIBRARY OF CONGRESS D0Q17t,7H2fib Qass. Book M COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/emotions01mcco THE EMOTIONS JAMES McCOSH, D.D., LL.D. PRESIDENT OF PRINCETON COLLEGE; AUTHOR OF "METHOD OF DIVINE GOVERNMENT," "INTUITIONS OF THE MIND," ETC. nP NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 743 and 745 Bkoadway 1880 N V Copyright, 1830, By JAMES McCOSH. RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE : STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. 0. HOUOHTON AND COMPANY. PKEFAOE. I AM not satisfied with the account which has been given of the feelings and emotions in our books of mental science, and thence transferred into the common thought and literature of modern times. The word " feeling " in English, and the word " sen- sibility " in French, with their cognate phrases " feel," " sentiment," and " sentir," are very vague and am- biguous. They may embrace two such different mental properties, as sensation on the one hand, and emotions, as of fear, hope, grief, and anger, on the other. Some writers lose themselves and confuse their readers by speaking of all our mental states, even our intellectual exercises, as feelings. The word " Gefiihl " in German is scarcely less ambiguous, sometimes designating mere affections of the senses, at other times our higher faiths. Those who translate English, French, and German into Latin and Greek, have always experienced a diffi- culty in getting words in these classical languages to cor- respond to those I have named in the modern tongues. It is a curious circumstance that we have no such loose phrase in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures as our "feel- ings." In these circumstances it is surely desirable to have IV PREFACE. the emotions separated from the feelings, and to have a renewed attempt to give an analysis, a description, and classification of them, as distinguished from other mental qualities. The vagueness of the idea entertained favors the tendency on the part of the prevailing physiological psy- chology of the day to resolve all feeling, and our very emotions, into nervous action, and thus gain an impor- tant province of our natirre to materialism. In this work I treat of the emotions as psychical acts, but I do not overlook their physiological concomitants and effects. I enter little into controversy. My aim has been to expound the truth, and leave it to shine in its own light. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Page. Analysis of Emotion 1 BOOK FIRST. FOUR ELEMENTS IN EMOTION. CHAPTER I. FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. Sect. I. What Appetences are 7 II. Primary Appetences . . . . . .9 1. Love of Pleasure and Aversion to Pain. 2. Pro- moting Good of others. 3. Personal Attach- ments. 4. Tastes and Talents tending to act. 5. Bodily Appetites. 6. Love of Society. 7. Love of Esteem. 8. Love of Power. 9. Love of Wealth. 10. Esthetic Feeling. 11. Moral Sentiment. III. Secondary Appetences 16 IV. {Supplementary.) Evolution of Emotions . . 21 V. {Supplementary.') Do the Derivative Appetences bear a. Conscious Reference to the Orig- inal Ones 23 VI. Motives 25 VII. Differences of Appetences in Different In- dividuals 27 VI CONTENTS. PAQK VIII. Conspiring Appetences 30 IX. Conflicting Appetences 31 X. Dominant Appetences 35 XI. Undeveloped Appetences . . . . 37 XII. The Motiveless Man 40 CHAPTER II. SECOND ELEMENT: THE IDEA (PHANTASM). Sect. I. Nature op the Idea which calls forth the Emotion 42 II. Works of Fiction 53 III. Association of Ideas in Emotion . . . 61 IV. Spontaneous Flow of Thought . .72 CHAPTER III. THIRD ELEMENT: EXCITEMENT WITH ATTACHMENT AND REPUGNANCE. Sect. I. Their General Nature 77 H. Action and Reaction of Feeling . . .84 III. Nature restoring itself .... 85 CHAPTER IV. FOURTH ELEMENT: THE ORGANIC AFFECTION. Some Empirical Laws 88 1. Idea of Good soothes, while Idea of Evil de- ranges the Frame. 2. Organs affected. 3. Bell's and Darwin's Observations. 4. Conclusions provisionally established by Darwin. 5. Ex- pressions are produced by Emotions. 6. Truth in Physiognomy. 7. Mingling of Sensation of Pain with Emotion. 8. Effect of Imaginary Scenes. 9. Sympathy. 10. Bodily States pro- duce Emotion. 11. Emotion craves for Ex- pression. 12. What Effect of restraining Ex- pression. CONTENTS. Vll BOOK SECOND. CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF EMOTIONS. CHAPTER I. PAGE DIVISION OF THE EMOTIONS . . .111 CHAPTER II. EMOTIONS AS DIRECTED TO ANIMATE OBJECTS. Sect. I. Retrospective Emotions 115 Self-Satisfaction or Regret : Complacency or Displacency ; Self-Esteem or Self-Dissatisfac- tion ; Self-Congratulation or Self-Reproach ; Self- Sufficiency or Self-Depreciation ; Self- Adulation or Self- Accusation ; Mortification ; Bitterness ; Chagrin ; Pleasant Memories ; Self-Approbation or Self-Condemnation ; Self-Gratulation or Self- Humiliation; Repining. Moral Approbation and Disapprobation : Testimony of a Good Conscience ; Remorse. Benig.vancy : Thank- fulness. Anger : Irritation ; Temper ; Indigna- tion. n. Immediate Emotions 123 Joy and Sorrow : Content and Discontent ; Glad- ness and Depression ; Cheerfulness and Dejec- tion ; Good and Bad Spirits ; Rapture and Mel- ancholy. Pride and Self- Humiliation : Self-Conceit ; Self-Respect ; Humility ; Vanity ; Haughtiness ; Contempt ; Disdain ; Scorn ; Sneer- ing ; Meekness ; Repining ; Peevishness ; Sulki- ness ; Disgust ; Good and Bad Humor ; Sour- ness of Temper. Pity : Hardness of Heart ; Sympathy with Joys and Sorrows ; Envy ; Trust or Suspicion ; Rejoicing in, or Jealousy of, Suc- cess of Others. Vlll CONTENTS. PAOD III. Prospective Emotions 136 Surprise ; Astonishment ; Admiration ; Wonder ; Veneration. Hope and Fear : Anticipation ; Expectation; Assurance of Hope; Apprehension; Dread ; Terror ; Shyness ; Shame ; Modesty and Impudence; Horror; Despair; Anxiety; Disap- pointment ; Hope of Approval. CHAPTER III. EMOTIONS CALLED FORTH BY INANIMATE OBJECTS. THE ESTHETIC. Sect. I. JEsthetical Theories 148 II. Place of Sensation in ^Esthetics . . . 153 III. Physical Beauty 157 Sound ; Form ; Color. IV. Intellectual Beauty 163 Relations of Identity and Difference, Whole and Parts (Means and End) ; Resemblance (Classes) ; Space ; Time ; Quantity ; Active Property ; Cau- sation (Final Cause). V. The Idea raising the Esthetic Feeling . 169 VI. What is the true Theory of Beauty? . 176 VII. Influence of Association on Taste . .178 VIII. Complexity of the 2Esthetic Emotion . 179 IX. The Picturesque 181 X. The Ludicrous 184 XI. The Sublime 189 XII. Beauty in Natural Objects .... 192 Trees ; Mountains ; Waterfalls ; Ocean. XIII. Scenery of Different Countries . . . 201 XIV. The Fine Arts . . . . . .207 Architecture ; Sculpture ; Landscape Gardening ; Landscape Painting ; Historical Painting. CONTENTS. IX BOOK THIRD. COMPLEX EMOTIONS. CHAPTER I. CONTINUOUS EMOTIONS. PAGE Sect. I. Affections and Passions 215 IT. Love 216 III. Love of the Sexes 218 IV. Emotions come in Groups 222 V. Temperament . . . ... . .224 VI. Temper 226 VII. Prepossessions 227 VIII. Prejudices 229 IX. Fickleness of Feeling 231 X. Puling Passion ....... 232 CHAPTER II. MOTIVES SWAYING MASSES. Sect. I. Community of Feeling . . . .237 II. Reaction of Public Sentiment . . .241 III. An Unwritten Chapter on Political Econ- omy 245 Conclusion 251 INTRODUCTION. ELEMENTS INVOLVED IN EMOTIONS. Four persons of yery much the same age and tem- perament are traveling in the same vehicle. At a par- ticular stopping-place it is announced to them that a cer- tain individual has just died suddenly and unexpectedly. One of the company looks perfectly stolid ; a second comprehends what has taken place, but is in no way affected ; the third looks and evidently feels sad ; the fourth is overwhelmed with grief, which finds expres- sion in tears, sobs, and exclamations. Whence the differ- ence of the four individuals before us ? In one respect they are all alike, — an announcement has been made to them. The first is a foreigner, and has not understood the communication. The second had never met with the deceased, and could have no special regard for him. The third had often met with him in social intercourse and business transactions, and been led to cherish a great es- teem for him. The fourth was the brother of the de- parted, and was bound to him by native affection and a thousand interesting ties, earlier and later. From such a case we may notice that in order to emotion there is need, first, of some understanding or apprehension. The foreigner had no feeling, because he had no idea or be- lief. We may observe further that there must be, sec- ondly, an affection of some kind, for the stranger was not interested in the occurrence. The emotion flows forth l Z INTRODUCTION. from a well, and it is strong in proportion to the waters, — is stronger in the brother than in the friend. It is evident, thirdly, that the persons affected are in a moved or excited state. A fourth peculiarity has appeared in the sadness of the countenance and the agitations of the bodily frame. Four elements have thus come forth to view. First, there is the affection, or what I prefer calling the motive principle, or the appetence. In the illustrative case, there are the love of a friend and the love of a brother. But the appetence, to use the most unexcep- tionable phrase, may consist of an immense number and variety of other motive principles, such as the love of pleasure, the love of wealth, or revenge, or moral ap- probation. These appetences may be original, such as the love of happiness ; or they may be acquired, such as the love of money, or of retirement, or of paintings, or of articles of vertu, or of dress. These moving powers are at the basis of all emotion. Without the fountain there can be no flow of waters. The passenger who had no regard for the person whose 'death was reported to him was not affected with grief. The two who loved him felt sorrow, each according to the depth of his affec- tion. Secondly, there is an idea of something, of some ob- ject or occurrence, as fitted to gratify or disappoint a mo- tive principle or appetence. When the friend and brother of the departed did not know of the occurrence they were not moved. But as soon as the intelligence was conveyed to them and they realized the death, they were filled with sorrow. The idea is thus an essential ele- ment in all emotion. But ideas of every kind do not raise emotion. The stranger had a notion of a death having occurred, but was not moved. The idea excited FOUR ELEMENTS IN EMOTION. 3 emotion in the breasts of those who had the affection, be- cause the event apprehended disappointed one of the cherished appetences of their minds. Thirdly, there is the conscious feeling. The soul is in a moved or excited state, — hence the phrase emotion. Along with this there is an attraction or repulsion : we are drawn toward the objects that we love, that is, for which we have an appetence, and driven away from those which thwart the appetence. To use looser phrase- ology, we cling to the good, and we turn away from the evil. This excitement, with the attractions and repul- sions, is the conscious element in the emotion. Yet it all depends on the two other elements, on the affection and the idea of something fitted to gratify or disappoint it. The felt excitement or passion differs according to the nature of the appetence and the depth of it, and accord- ing to what the idea that evokes it contains. A smaller gain or loss does not affect us so much as a greater, and the greatness or smallness of the gain or loss is deter- mined by the cherished affection. What is a loss to one is not felt to be so by another, because the ruling pas- sions of the two men differ. Fourthly, there is an organic affection. The seat of it seems to be somewhere in the cerebrum, whence it in- fluences the nervous centres, producing soothing or ex- citing and at times exasperating results. This differs widely in the case of different individuals. Some are hurried irresistibly into violent expressions or convul- sions. Others, feeling no less keenly, may appear out- wardly calm, because restrained by a strong will ; or they may feel repressed and oppressed till they have an out- let in some natural flow or outburst. But it is to be ob- served that this organic affection is not the primary nor the main element in anything that deserves the name of 4 INTRODUCTION. emotion, such as hope and fear, joy and sorrow, reproach and despair. A sentence of a few words announces to a man the death of his brother, and reaches his mental apprehension by the sense of hearing. First he under- stands it, then he feels it by reason of his cherished affec- tion, and then there is the nervous agitation. Emotion is not what * it has often been represented by physiol- ogists, a mere nervous reaction from a bodily stimulus, like the kick which the frog gives when it is pricked. It begins with a mental act, and throughout is essentially an operation of the mind. He who can unfold these four elements and allot to them their relative place and connection will clear up a subject which is only imperfectly understood at present, and show what emotion is in itself, and what its place in the human constitution. Each of these aspects has been noticed in works written both in ancient and modern times. The Scottish school of metaphysicians, and es- pecially Dugald Stewart, have sought, but not in a very searching manner, to determine man's springs of action. It will be shown that Aristotle and the Stoics knew that in all emotion there is a phantasm or opinion involved. Dr. Thomas Brown has given us an eloquent descrip- tion of the mental excitement, which, however, is chiefly left to novelists, who often make mistakes. Physiologists have had to take up the organic action, hitherto with not much success. But so far as is known to me, the four elements have not been exhibited in their combina- tion and their mutual relation by any one. BOOK FIRST. THE FOUR ELEMENTS IN EMOTION. CHAPTER I. FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. SECTION I. WHAT APPETENCES ARE. By the word appetence I understand what is com- monly but vaguely designated by "motive," "spring of action," "disposition," "inclination," "affection." But all these have larger and more indefinite, not to say am- biguous, significations, and have more or less of the ele- ment of will. It is necessary to remark thus early that appetence has nothing in it of the nature of voluntary action, which belongs to a very different department of the mind. It is simply a tendency in the mind to crave for an object for its own sake. It is not desire ; it pre- cedes desire and leads to it. It is not action, but a spring of action. The phrase I prefer is a convenient one, as the noun has cognate adjectives, appetible and inappeti- ble. It has often been incidentally noticed, though it has seldom been formally announced, that, as the basis of all emotion, there is a mental principle determining its nature and its intensity ; this I call an appetence. It would be of great service to every branch of mental science to have an approximately good classification of the appetences by which mankind are swayed. This is a difficult work, more so than a classification of plants or animals, the determining motives being so many and so varied in appearance and in reality. Some seem to 8 ' FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. act under no guiding principle, as if on an unaccount- able impulse ; but if we reflect, we shall find that they must have been pursuing some end, indulging a lust or passion, or restlessly seeking a change of state or posi- tion. In many cases the man himself could not tell us, and we could never discover, what swayed him, but we may be sure that there was a glittering object attracting him. Every man we meet with, hurrying to and fro on the streets of a great city, dancing in a ball-room, or idling in a summer saunter, has, after all, Ian end which he is seeking. " For every man hath business and de- sire, such as it is." It may be possible to form, if not a perfect, a good provisional arrangement of man's springs of action. It is obvious that men cannot be swayed by every con- ceivable motive. No man can be made to choose pain as pain. He may choose pain, but it is supposed to pro- mote some other end which has power with him, because it may secure pleasure, or reputation, or moral good. There are motives swaying some which have little or no power over others. Multitudes are led by the love of property or of reputation, while others scarcely feel these inclinations. Of some, we are sure that they are incapa- ble of doing a mean or dishonorable deed. Of others, we believe that they will never perform an act of benev- olence or of self-sacrifice. When a crime is committed, there may be certain persons suspected ; there are others of whom all are sure that they have had no participation in it. Let us try to ascertain the motives by which all mankind are swayed, and. which we call: — PRIMARY APPETENCES. 9 section n. PKIMARY APPETENCES. I. Every man is swayed by the love of pleasure and the aversion to pain. This is not the result of delibera- tion, or an exercise of choice ; it is instinctive. We shrink from suffering as suffering ; we lay hold of enjoyment as enjoyment. Through a great part of our waking mo- ments we are influenced by these ends, — seizing this, and avoiding that. Even when we resist these motive pow- ers, — as when we stretch forth our hand to ward off a blow intended for our neighbor, — we feel them, and have to counteract them by some higher considerations. Little more need be said on this subject ; indeed, little more can be said. "Pain" and "pleasure" cannot be defined ; this, not because of their complexity, but of their simplicity, there is nothing simpler into which to resolve them. They do not need to be defined, for all sensitive beings know what they are. I rather think that all pain originates in a derangement of our organ- ism. But it is not felt as pain till perceived by the con- scious soul. The question arises, Is this the only consideration by which man can be influenced ? The language used by many leaves upon us the impression that this is so, — it is so in their estimation. Some theorists derive all our motives from this one. This, however, is not the view which presents itself at first sight, which shows such an infinite variety of other attractions, such as kindness, sympathy, the desire for power and for society. But they tell us that we have found power and social inter- course leading to enjoyment, and they argue that the very idea of these, as associated with pleasure, raises 10 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. appetence. While the principle doubtless ha3 its modi- fying influence, it cannot account for the whole phe- nomena as exhibited in human nature. There are appe- tences other than those looking to pleasure and pain, such as the love of children for parents and for brothers and sisters, arising so early, abiding so steadfastly, and so marked in individuals and in families, that they are evidently in the very nature and tendency of the soul. 1 II. Man is inclined to promote the happiness and avert the unhappiness of his fellow-men. No doubt he may be able to restrain this disposition by a cherished selfish- ness. But there will be times when, in spite of all at- tempts to repress it, it will come forth in some kind deed or wot;d. So far as the great body of men and women and children are concerned, there is a disposition to oblige, to help a fellow-creature, if this can be done without injuring their own interests ; and, in the case of not a few, it is a benevolence which prompts to self- sacrifice and labors for the good of others. Besides the instincts which lead us to seek our own good, there are evidently others which incline us to find for our fellow- men the things which we regard as good for ourselves. III. There are the attachments to relatives, as of par- ents to children, and of children to parents, of brothers and siafers to one another, and, I may add, of grand- mothers and grandfathers to their grandchildren, and jUterJoi more distant kindred. In all such cases there is a natural appetency, and this is called forth by the idea of the person and of the relationship of that person. Take the case of a mother. There is a fountain within ready to flow out. It does not appear' till there is a child, though it seems to manifest itself at times in an irregu- 1 As to the theory which draws them by evolution from pleasure and pain, see Section III. PEIMARY APPETENCES. 11 lar manner in the attachment of a childless woman to animals or other pets, or in the craving for an adopted son or daughter. Let there be an idea of the relation in which the child stands to the mother, of the child being her offspring, and being dependent on her, and associated with her now and for life, and the stream begins to flow. It is the same with all other relative attachments, say paternal, filial, sisterly, or brotherly. First there is a pre- disposition, and then an idea of the intimate connection. Along with this there are frequently natural affinities, or common tastes and tendencies, which draw the related parties closer to each other. We have all read tales in which a mother is represented as recognizing her long- lost child, and a sister falling into the arms of a brother whom she never saw, simply on meeting. But there is no ground for making such a representation. The nat- ural likenesses in mind, body, and feature may predis- pose relatives towards one other; but, after all, there must be ground to lead to and justify the discovery. The affection thus called forth by the appetence and ap- prehension is made livelier and stronger by frequent in- tercourse, by exchanges of affection, by offices of kind- ness, by common ends and pursuits, and may be lessened, and in some instances all but destroyed, by clashing in- terests, — say, about money, — by quarrels, and eveivby long separations. The affection of friends is gendered in the first instance by affinities of tastes, dispositions, and motives, probably favored by circumstances, and is kept up by frequent association and mutual kindness. IV. The native tastes and talents, and our very ac- quired ones when they become part of our nature, prompt to action, and excite emotion when gratified or disap- pointed, and this independent of pleasure, or pain, or any other end. This seems true of our organic activity. 12 FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. The lamb frisks, the colt gambols, impelled by a life in their frames ; the child solves the problem of perpetual motion ; and all our lives, till the vital energy is dried up, and aged men and women are satisfied with their couch and their chimney-corner, we are impelled to movement and change of movement, owing to the or- gans of our frame demanding action. We see this strik- ingly in the musical talent, which often comes out in very early life. Our intellectual powers, our memory, our reasoning, all tend to act, and will act, unless re- strained. Talents, arithmetical, mathematical, mechan- ical, artistic, poetical, historical, metaphysical, fitted for the study of objects in nature, inanimate and animate, sun, moon, and stars, plant and animal, will all find a field to work in, even in the most unfavorable circum- stances. These may show themselves in childhood, and continue dominant throughout the whole life, determin- ing, it may be, in spite of difficulties, the man's trade or profession, and, indeed, his whole earthly destiny, and possibly prompting him, though engrossed with earthly business, to devote the few leisure hours he has to writ- ing a work on natural history, a poem, or a philosoph- ical treatise. Not only are there intellectual, there are emotional and, it may be added, moral powers, seeking out their appropriate objects, and making the possess- ors search for lovely landscapes or beautiful paintings, or leading them to visit the house of mourning, and relieve distress. All these, when gratified, stir up pleas- ing emotions, and when disappointed unpleasing. Inti- mately connected with these — V. There are the appetites, as of hunger, thirst, rest, of motion, or sex. They originate in the body, but they become mental. They crave for their objects, and this for their own sakes, not merely for the pleasure they PEIMAEY APPETENCES. 13 give, or the pain from which their gratification delivers us. It is not the pleasure that gives rise to the appe- tite ; it is rather the action of the appetite that gives rise to the pleasure, — though doubtless the two move in the same direction, and each gives an impetus to the other. VI. There is the love of society. This propensity ap- pears among the lower animals, some tribes of which are gregarious. It comes forth in very early life among chil- dren, who draw towards others of about the same age. With some, as they advance in life, it becomes a strong and confirmed passion, so that they cannot live without the excitement produced by running round the circle of society, till they become giddy and fall. Solitude, ex- cept for a time to soothe the mind, is felt to be irksome by most people. Solitary confinement is one of the se- verest of punishments, and when carried out rigidly has been known to end in lunacy. It is to be observed that persons associate most pleasantly together when their trains of mental association run in the same direction, or parallel to each other. Hence it is that people of the same craft or profession, tradesmen, merchants, lawyers, doctors, preachers, students, teachers, are apt to meet with each other in larger or smaller companies. I have noticed that the most popular men and women in society are those whose trains of thought and of conversation, and whose opinions and sentiments, are in thorough ac- cordance with the circles in which they move. The best liked people are those whose whole manner and style of remark is a sort of flattery to those they meet. VII. There is a love of esteem, commendation, praise, glory, appearing also in early life, and capable of becom- ing a dominant passion. It is apt to associate itself with the motive last mentioned ; and the young delight in a 14 FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. smile, an approving word, or a gift from those whom they love, or with whom they associate, from father, mother, teacher, and sometimes stronger than any others, from companions. This principle, the desire to keep or retain the good opinion of others, often makes the tyranny ex- ercised over boys by their companions, in workshop, in school, and college, more formidable than any wielded by the harshest masters or rulers. As persons advance in life it becomes a desire to stand well with the circle in which they move, their professional circle, or the gay cir- cle, or the fashionable circle, or the respectable circle, or the good moral circle, or their religious circle, say, their congregation or the denomination of which they are mem- bers. The fear of losing the esteem or incurring the cen- sure of their social set or party is sometimes a means of sustaining good resolutions, and of keeping people in the straight course ; quite as frequently it tempts to coward- ice, as they have not the courage to do the right and op- pose the evil, since it would make them unpopular. In the case of many the desire becomes a craving for repu- tation, a passion for fame, burning and flaming, and it may be consuming the soul. This often leads to. great deeds in war and in peace, in the common arts and in the fine arts, in literature and science. But being ill regulated or carried to excess it is often soured into jeal- ousy, or envy, or issues in terrible disappointment. Be- ing thwarted, it may become a love of notoriety, which commonly springs up in the breasts of persons who, hav- ing met with opposition, or failed to secure from the good the applause which they expected, perhaps by honorable means, or having incurred odium, possibly undeserved, are bent on having reputation by any kind of means, or from any sort of people. The passion may become so strong as to need no aid from the pleasure derived from PKIMAEY APPETENCES. 15 it, — nay, may lead the man to injure his health and in- cur suffering, in order to secure posthumous fame of which he can never be conscious. VIII. There is the love of power. It is conceivable that this motive might be generated by the love of pleas- ure and the aversion to pain, for in ordinary circum- stances power enables us to multiply our enjoyments and to avoid suffering. But then it appears in so marked a form in individuals and in families that we are forced to conclude that it is native ; we discover that it is often inherited from ancestors. It is the grasping of power combined with the thirst for fame which constitutes am- bition, the character of the ambition depending on the relative strength of the two elements : the former lead- ing to the performance of more brilliant feats, but the other leading to the more determined action, the two united producing the men whom the world calls great, but who have often been the servants, or rather the very slaves, of their passions. The love of dominion is the most unrelenting of all the passions by which man can be swayed, being the power which gives its strength and persistence to tyranny under all its forms. IX. There is the love of property, what is called acquisitiveness. This is often represented as springing from the love of power, always combined with the love of pleasure. Wealth gives us means of securing many kinds of enjoyment, and no doubt is commonly coveted because it is so associated in our minds. But there are cases in which the passion appears in very early life, and in which it is handed down from father to son, and runs in families. "We see it in an instinctive form in the lower animals, as when the dog hides his bones for future use. It is necessary, in order to make our enumeration of 16 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. primary springs of action complete, to mention two others ; but it will not be necessary to dwell upon them, as they will fall to be noticed more appropriately else- where. X. There is the aesthetic sentiment, making us seek and delight in the beautiful, the picturesque, the humor- ous, and the sublime. XL There is the moral sentiment, prompting us to seek and to do what is good. 1 From these leading forms as they mingle with each other and are influenced by circumstances, there proceed others, which are called : — SECTION III. SECONDARY APPETENCES. From the time of Hobbes of Malmesbury, in the mid- dle of the seventeenth century, there has been a ten- dency among metaphysicians to make the original inlets of knowledge as few as possible. Locke made them only two, sensation and reflection, and Condillac, with his fol- lowers in France, reduced them to one, sensation. For two centuries ingenuity strained itself to the utmost to derive all our ideas, even those of God and necessary truth and duty, from the two sources, or more frequently from one. I make this historical remark simply as in- troductory to another : that during the same period there was a like determination to diminish the original motive principles of the mind. Hobbes by a summary process referred all men's activities to motives drawn from pleas- ure and pain. During the last century and the beginning 1 See Dngald Stewart's Desires, in Active and Moral Powers, vol. i. I treat of the ^Esthetic Emotions in book second, chap. ii. I hope to treat of the Conscience and Will in another little volume. SECONDARY APPETENCES. 17 of this, wasted labor was spent in showing that, given only one or a very few springs of action, the whole of man's conduct can «be explained by the association of ideas. There has been a change in all that theorizing since Darwinism has become a power. All along thinkers not carried away by the dominant philosophy were slow to believe that there were no special intellectual powers, that there were no special propensities native to mankind generally, to races or individuals (Robert Burns doubted whether all sense of beauty could be explained by the as- sociation of ideas) ; for they thought they saw traces of these appearing at a very early age and going down in families. Since the doctrines of evolution and heredity have come into prominence, the current of opinion has en- tirely changed. Now the number of powers and propen- sities in human nature is supposed to have become so great by differentiation and specialization that it is im- possible to enumerate them and difficult to classify them. Having tried to give a provisionally good arrangement of the primary appetences, let us now look at the others. One general principle will be acknowledged by all: The secondary appetences imply primary, and grow upon them as the mistletoe does upon the oak. We can under- stand, in a general way, how this is effected. Undoubt- edly cerebral and nervous action are implied, but this is not the only nor the main power at work. Materialists talk confidently of being able to explain the whole of mental action by brain structure. But there is an im- passable gulf between a disposition of the cerebro-spinal mass and a desire of some kind, say, to attain a high ideal, or to reach communion with God. It is by mental rather than material laws that secondary affections are fashioned. Association of ideas plays an important part, 18 FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. which has been carefully unfolded by the Scottish school from the days of Turnbull and Hume down to the time of Mr. J. S. Mill. Money may be coveted, first, as pro- curing pleasure, and then, perhaps, by gratifying the de- sire for power or applause ; but by being associated with them it becomes identified with them, and carries all these with it, and in the end seems to be desired for its own sake. The processes are first mental, but they pro- duce an effect on the cerebral structure (what Carpenter calls unconscious cerebral affection), and the mind now works in accordance with it ; and the whole becomes hereditary, and may go down from father or mother, or quite as frequently in some of the peculiarities, from grandfather and grandmother to their grandchildren. It is a property of our nature, however we may ex- plain it, that these derived principles may become pri- mary, and seek, apparently for their own sake, objects which were at first desired, because they tended to pro- mote farther ends. We have all heard of persons cling- ing to their money after they were fully aware that they could draw no enjoyment from it, — say, when they knew they were dying. The ruling passion is often strong in death, and this passion may be a derivative one. 1 The derivative appetences may and do assume an im- mense number and variety of forms, which run into and are mixed up with each other. Some are appropriately called secondary, being derived immediately from a pri- mary. Others might be called tertiary or quaternary, as they may be derived from principles of action which are themselves derived, very frequently from a number of prin- ciples, original and derivative, woven together in all sorts of ways, so that' it is difficult to unravel the web. From 1 There is a well-authenticated story of a miser sending, before he died, for an undertaker, and cheating him in the bargain made for his funeral. SECONDARY APPETENCES. 19 childhood up to full maturity (when the process is apt to cease), the actuating "principles are apt to become more numerous and special ; in declining life they become fewer and more centralized. A like process may be seen in the advance of mankind : in the primitive ages the aims and pursuits are limited ; as a people become more civilized they have more varied wants, and, by differentiation and specialization (acts so well known to biologists), the tastes become more diversified and minute. Among the more wide-spread appetences is the love of freedom, spurning at restraint, and feeling a buoyant enjoyment in walking at liberty ; it is one of the incentives which prompt a peo- ple to resist a tyrant and fight for independence. Older than this is the bowing to authority, learned in the fam- ily, and acknowledging the authority of a father, and learning allegiance and loyalty to a sovereign. There is the love of country, fed by common feelings and common interests, and which may and ought to lead us to be in- terested in all that relates to its welfare, and ready (Will has entered here) to undertake labor and sacrifice for its good. There is the taste for a particular work, a partic- ular profession, a special art, or a special science. Some are devoted to farming, with open field and fresh air; some to a trade which requires ingenuity, such as mechanics, building, or painting; some to sea-faring, with its advent- ures; some to merchandise, with its speculations. As the division of labor (which Adam Smith shows to be so intimately connected with the progress of a people) advances, there are generated corresponding aptitudes and employments. As mental activity is called forth, some devote their whole soul and life to the fine arts, or to literature, or to science. Good arises from this di- vision and subdivision of labor and taste. It is a happy thing for himself and for his race when a man's tastes 20 FIEST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. are for his professional work ; but there is a danger that his soul becomes centred in it, so that he cannot be made to feel an interest in anything else. That man's mind is apt to become small as a pin point who is employed all his life in making a pin point. Even when his field of labor is richer, his mind is narrowed if it is confined ex- clusively to it, and does not look, around on other fields and upward to heaven. The physicist is apt to get a downward look by his bending forever towards the earth, while the metaphysician, in mounting up so far, but not far enough, is apt to lose himself in the clouds which are above the earth, but have not the clearness of the heav- ens. The specializing often gives great intensity of force, and advances a department of science and art ; but by looking forever through a microscope our eyes may be injured, our view of objects made very narrow, and the mind be without the means of judiciously generalizing. It is a great relief to a man, hard pressed by his profes- sional work or his studies, to have a side enjoyment, say, in miscellaneous reading, or in an easy, pleasant art, and in riding or walking, in shooting and fishing. The mind is possessed of qualities, often lying latent, which, if not restrained, will lead it to take the very deepest interest in particular, what may appear very minute, objects, — in a particular place, in a very special artifice or trick, in fa- vorite animals, or in favorite plants. 1 These tastes should be restrained only so far as to keep us from being ab- sorbed with them, and thereby being tempted into eccen- tricity and caprices. As men make progress in intelli- gence, they will thereby become conformed to a common standard ; but they should take care, meanwhile, not to lose their individuality, which is a powerful support of 1 I knew a man who had an intense love for toads, which he kept care- fully in his garden and summer houses. EVOLUTION OF EMOTIONS. 21 their independence. By all means let us have wide- spread and fertile plains, but let us not pare down our hills and mountains, to which we may retreat for free and fresher air. SECTION IV. Supplementary. EVOLUTION OF EMOTIONS. The supporters of the evolution hypothesis will not be satisfied with the account given above. They tell us that the only original motive of the mind is a desire of happiness and an aversion to pain. From this they draw all the others, even those usually supposed to be primary. Society is felt first to be pleasant, and then is sought for its own sake. It is the same with the love of property and the love of power. Attempts were made an age or two ago to show how this process might be accomplished in the breast of the individual during the few years of the formation of- his character. This theory has been abandoned. It is now argued that the motives by which mankind are swayed are the growth of many and long ages, have come down from animal to man, and go down from one generation of man to another. There are difficulties in the way of the acceptance of this hypothesis. It supposes that man is descended from the brutes, in the end from an ascidian, or a cell, or an aggregate of molecules. It may be safely said that no one has been able to show how that is done. The gap between the inanimate and the animate has not yet been filled up. No bridge has yet been found to connect ex- tended matter with sensitive and intelligent mind. Com- ing to the springs of action, it has not been shown how a love of pleasure for ourselves can become a love for pleasure to others, or how sensations can generate a per- 22 FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. ception of duty. If this can be done, it must be by a very peculiar and remarkable process, which for the ends of science will require to be enunciated, and its exact nature, laws, and limits specified. Being generated, it is supposed to become hereditary. But while we know that there is such a process as heredity, its evident com- plexity has not been unraveled, nor its precise potencies enunciated. Heredity is essentially an organic, that is, a bodily, process, and it has not been shown how the trans- mission of a bodily organization should produce a mental appetency. With these doubts hanging over the nature and limits of evolution and heredity, I have thought it wise not to connect my exposition of human motives with the de- velopment hypothesis. Should that doctrine come to be established and be successfully applied to the generation of human motives, it might throw light on the origin of human appetences, but would scarcely affect our account of the appetences themselves. Assuming the one original appetence of pleasure and pain, the hypothesis would have to show how all the derivative ones, such as the social and moral ones, take their particular shapes. I wish it to be distinctly understood that in this treatise I undertake not to determine the origin of motives in the ages past and among the lower animals ; I am satisfied if I give an approximately correct account of them as they now act in the human mind. In all inquiry into the origin of things, when we have not historical proof, we must commence with ascertaining the nature of the ob- jects themselves, and then we may seek to devise an hypothesis which will explain all the facts. If a true ex- position is given in this treatise of the springs of action actually working, it will enable inquirers to determine as to any proposed hypothesis, say, that of evolution, KELATION OF SECONDARY TO PRIMARY. 23 whether it meets all the phenomena. For myself, if ever I enter into this controversy, it will be in a separate work, so as not to distract the view presented in this treatise of man as he is. SECTION V. Supplementary. DO THE DERIVATIVE APPETENCES BEAR A CONSCIOUS REFERENCE TO THE ORIGINAL ONES ?" A very nice and difficult question is here started. Does the mind, in following a derived impulse, have any reference to those from which it is derived ? The second- ary one, let us suppose, is the love of money, derived from the primary one, the love of pleasure. In grasping the coin does the man think merely of the money, or is there some idea — it may be very vague — of the enjoyment expected to be derived from it ? Or, to put the question in a more general form, has the money come to be loved for its own sake, or for the pleasure which has come to be associated with it ? It is commonly stated in books on this subject that the secondary spring of action becomes a- primary one. It certainly does look at first sight as if the object, say the food, or the fame, is seized for its own sake.' If so, it must be by some principle into whose nature we should inquire, and which we should seek to enunciate. When does a secondary rise to the rank of a primary motive ? I believe an answer to this question might settle the general one. But is it necessary to call in a new principle ? Might it not all be accounted for by the principle of associa- tion, acting till the product becomes organic and hered- itary ? Let us suppose that, actuated by the love of pleas- ure, the man finds that wealth is the means of imparting 24 FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. and increasing enjoyment. Henceforth enjoyment is as- sociated with wealth, and the wealth is coveted because of the felicity. Money bringing enjoyment is the idea that stirs up the desire. It is not necessary to suppose that we are distinctly conscious. of the contemplated en- joyment entering into the act. The object, say the wealth, may bulk so largely in our view that the other element is not specially noticed. The man may not de- liberately choose the pleasure ; on the contrary, if there were time and disposition to think, it might be seen that the object, say ill-gotten wealth, is sure to land us in misery ; but the object has associated itself with a pri- mary impulse, and draws him on if some other motive does not oppose. There is a circumstance that imparts force to this lat- ter view. We find that when the secondary appetence ceases to gratify the primary one, it is apt to be weak- ened, and may in the end all but disappear, or appear only as the result of an old habit. It is thus that so many become disgusted with the objects which once they desired so eagerly. The woman formerly loved is found, or imagined to be, unworthy, mean, selfish, or corrupt, may have ceased to afford the pleasure she at one time did, or has wounded the vanity or thwarted some of the favorite ends of her lover, and is henceforth avoided or repelled. In this way all persons with correct moral principle, or indeed with good sense, become wearied with sensual indulgences, which are associated with re- morse and filth. Fame and property may become bur- densome, because of the cares and anxieties which they bring. Whichever of these theories we adopt, it must ever be admitted that there are in the breasts of every individ- ual natural appetences ; these not merely the love of MOTIVES. • 25 happiness, which, is acknowledged to be universal, but various social instincts and sympathies. These tend to act, in spite of the most adverse circumstances, and show themselves in disappointed feelings when the means of gratification are denied. In conducting this discussion, we have come to discover a most important practical principle ; this is the most effective way of removing or counteracting an evil appetence, or one we wish to be rid of. Let ns gather a set of associations round another ob- ject of an opposite tendency. Let us cure a low ambi- tion by cultivating a high one ; and this may be done by connecting it in our thoughts with some primary appe- tence of a high character, such as the love of good to our- selves or others. Lust is best corrected by cherishing a pure love. Idleness or listlessness may be overcome by determining to pursue a noble end. As we do so, our as- sociations will cluster round the object, to which we will be drawn by all the force of a primary affection. SECTION VI. MOTIVES. In whatever way we may classify them or account for their origin, the appetences are the motives which stir up desire and lead to action. It is a hindrance in the way of constructing a science of the mind that we have no standard of measurement and no instruments, as they have in physics (such as the barometer and thermom- eter), for determining the force of the swaying powers of the mind. Provided we had such a test, we might be able to express definitely the respective relative strength of the motives, and the result, when they combine with and oppose each other. Without such measuring instru- ment, all we can do is to observe and estimate in a gen- 26 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. era! way the tendencies and paths of the appetences, and notice how they act with and against each other. In do- ing so psychical has a counterbalancing advantage over physical science, as all the facts are within the mind and immediately under the eye of consciousness. It has often been said that if we had sufficient intel- lectual ability and. knew all the forces of nature we might predict the course of things through all futurity. It may be declared, in like manner, that if Ave were thoroughly conversant with the original springs of action in every man, and of the circumstances in which he is placed, we might foretell his coming career, barring any question that may spring from the freedom of the wilL 1 If we knew all the motives (as God doubtless knows them) acting at every given time, we might account for the most capricious conduct of men and women, even as we can explain the movements of the wandering meteors and eccentric comets. But in fact the problem is far too complicated for human sagacity to solve. The " problem of the three bodies" is a very simple one compared with it; it is the problem of a thousand bodies, crossing and recrossing, some of them very close to, and crowding and jostling each other. The considerations come in at all sorts of an- gles to help or hinder each other, and to produce all man- ner of paths, straight or curved or crooked. The course of every man and his place at any given moment are de- termined by attractions and repulsions, now drawing this way and now drawing that way, acting with and against each other in an indefinite and indefinable variety of ways. But to ascertain and measure these would re- quire a higher calculus than quaternions or qualities, or the latest discovered mathematical instruments. The path of some, and these often the most influential, men DIFFEKENCES OF APPETENCES IN INDIVIDUALS. 27 is determined by one or a few strong passions acting in very varied circumstances, such as the love of power or of fame, which carry them along in an onward progress, in which they move through opposition as the vessel does through the waves. That of others is settled by a vast variety of influences, balancing each other, but held in by outward circumstances and by prudence, and is like that of a planet, regular and orderly. That of a third class is more like that of a comet, attracted, indeed, towards a centre, but driven away into remote distances. It ought not to be forgotten that man has after all a power to choose among competitors and complainants by the will — the rudder which after all guides the course of ( the vessel, even when it is impelled by sails or by oars, in- clining now to the one side and now to the other. SECTION" VII. DIFFERENCES OF APPETENCES IN DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS. Some of these, such as the love of happiness and t reverse, operate in the hearts of all men ; others, sucl the love of polite society and refinement, are confine a few. There are persons who are incapable of moved by ends which powerfully attract others their worldly substance so engrosses some that tr not understand how any one should set a high knowledge ; while with others the thirst for overpowers the love of gold and every other position. Some inclinations seem to be perse ■ culiar to the individual, as you see in that dency to solitary musing not known amor kindred. Others are hereditary, and run .t may be penuriousness, or vanity, or the ,e- ment or of strong drink ; or are charae jes, 28 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. as the love of war or of conquest. Some are strong in youth, and become weaker in old age, as the appetites and the amorous affections with all their concomitants, and very often also the love of gayety and small ambi- tions. Some are apt to be strong in the female charac- ter, such as the love of dress and of admiration, and sym- pathy with joy and sorrow ; others are, usually, stronger in the male sex, as pride, courage, and the love of advent- ure and speculation. Some of the motives are fixed, like a stationary engine drawing up freighted carriages day and night, such as the love of power, and ambition generally ; others, as the love of excitement and amuse- ments, move on with circumstances, like the locomotive advancing with its accompanying train. In commonplace minds, indeed with a large body of mankind, the main motives are simply the desire to se- cure the ordinary gratification and avoid the common annoyances of life, along with the gratification of the ap- petites and some domestic affections. They eat, they drink, they sleep ; they do their necessary business ; they lay hold of the easily available enjoyments of society, and avoid, more or less carefully, the pains inflicted by natural laws ; and they thus pass through life doing lit- tle evil and no good. Still, even in the breasts of such, there will, at times, be deeper impulses making them- selves felt, as a fit of passion, sorrow for the loss of a friend, a generous affection, a high aspiration, a reproach of conscience, an awe from a supernatural power, — showing that man has the remains of a higher nature in him, but kept under by the lower appetences, as seeds are by the snows and frosts of winter. It is the office of religion, like the returning spring, to melt the ice and awaken the seeds into life, and nourish them aright. In some the passions are few and weak. In these DIFFERENCES OF APPETENCES IN INDIVIDUALS. 29 cases the temperament is apt to be dull, and the char- acter feeble, though it is possible that there may be much good sense and solid judgment, not liable to aberrations from prejudice. These people act wisely, but are not able to give impulse to others. Most men and women are under a number of motives, no one of them being very strong. The result is a mediocre character, which may be good or evil, as it is directed. In some the moving powers are so balanced that an equilibrium is established, and you feel confident that the man will be guilty of no extravagance or absurdity ; and this not because of any moral quality, but simply because of an equipoise of instincts. Some are moved by a few strong passions, such as self-sufficiency, self-righteousness, pride, and hold their place in society. Others are moved by benevolence, with its fountains and streams of tender- ness and alms-giving, and by generous impulses of vari- ous kinds, and they spread a happy influence in society. Some are under the dominion of a few petty partialities with enmities and friendships, and the result is an eccen- tric character, with whims, oddities, foibles, and caprices. Others are impelled by a number of strong tendencies the passions are vehement, and there are attachment sympathies, lusts, spites, hatreds, revenges, all act with or contrary to each other. Such a combina when the capacities are weak, produces a weak an illating character; but if the intellectual talents b' a strong character for good or for evil, for frien enmity, for defense or attack, for building or fo ing, for elevating or for disturbing a commu the man himself lives in a region of storm plains of the opposition he is ever meeting 5 are a few of the forms which natural chara 30 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. SECTION VIII. CONSPIRING APPETENCES. Sometimes the cords all draw in one and the same di- rection. The man is healthy ; he has all the comforts of life ; his business is prosperous ; his family are united ; he is respected in the community ; he is not troubled with ambitious aims; and he feels happy, — why should he not? There are times when prodigious violence is the result of a confluence of winds and waves. Henry VIII. so determinedly persevered in his purpose of procuring a divorce, because wearied of his bigoted wife, in doubt as to the lawfulness of his marriage, and in love with Anne Boleyn. A man fleeing for his life, with death in pur- suit, will bound over a stream into which in less stimu- lating circumstances he would fall and perish. I have known students, at a competitive examination, by a gath- ering and. concentration of force doing as much intel- lectual work in a few hours as they could have done in as many days without the combined stimulus of fame, rivalry, and expected profit. From like combined causes have proceeded, on great emergencies, bursts of extem- poraneous eloquence, as that of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, such as could not have been produced by the most labored preparation. It is not that the grand result in such cases is the product of the moment ; there is a concentration of powers which have long been collecting, a long gathering of the winds now bursting out in the hurricane, a deposition, for years which now falls on the instant in the avalanche. It was thus that the love of in- tellectual employment, of fame, and power, and a desire to promote the glory of their country, all allured on an Alexander, a Csesar, a Napoleon, to brilliant feats of con- CONFLICTING APPETENCES. 31 quest. After a like manner, the man of a devout nature, like Mohammed and Cromwell, is carried along as by a trade-wind ; the power is within, but he feels as if it were something without him and above him, and calls it the inspiration of the Almighty. Or, under very differ- ent impulses, finding that a long-coveted honor is denied him, and roused into ungovernable rage, he curses as bit- terly as Shimei did and may threaten blows or murder. Or, after long dreaming of some expected elysium, he "wakes, and finds his only hope lost." Or the conscience is roused from its lethargy by an unexpected calamity, and brings vividly before him divers aspects of one sin after another, or of that one sin which haunts him like a ghost, and a hell is created before the time, and he feels as if torn by furies gnawing at his vitals. SECTION IX. CONFLICTING APPETENCES. We have just seen that the motives may join their streams and give great impetus and momentum to the action. In other cases they cross each other, and this in all sorts of ways. Sometimes they directly oppose and thus arrest each other. Sometimes they clash, and pro- duce distractions. So the issue may be inaction, or ib may be a compromise, or it may be a terrible fight. Passions may contend in two ways. First there may be the operation at one and the same time of two incon- sistent propensities : there may be, on the one hand, am- bition or a love of money prompting to action, and on the other a love of ease and of immediate pleasure, in- clining to repose ; or there may be a sense of duty re- sisting a desire to please or a lust for sensual gratification. Were the two equally balanced, they might counteract 32 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. each other, and inaction be the statical result. 1 We see this in so many -who would like to gain a certain end but are hindered by a fear of difficulties or by conscience, and who have to content themselves with doing nothing, except perhaps cherishing sullenness, or who become dis- tracted by reason of the striving of winds and waves, there being all the while no onward movement. But more frequently both passions act. On the prin- ciple of the parallelogram of the forces, the man follows an intermediate course. This is apt to be the case with your prudent man, who takes as much of pleasure as he can have without injuring his health or reputation. Or, the man gives in now to one motive, and now to another, and he goes by fits and starts, or is known as a man of shifts and expedients. When the motives are not strong, his conduct is tremulous, like ihe sea when rippled by the breezes. When they are more powerful, the character seems eccentric or untrustworthy, or inconsistent to the world. " He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea." " A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." We feel that we cannot confide in him, for the motives which swayed him to-day do not influence him to-mor- row. His course is a zigzag one, perhaps an interrupted one, and regarded by all as a contradictory one. In most cases the forces are not equal, and the path pursued is curved, perhaps crooked. Sometimes a number of af- fections are in activity at one and the same time, pro- ducing an orbit more difficult to determine than that of the solar system among the stars. The result is apt to be a constant variation, or an unstable equilibrium se- 1 " Did you ever see a blacksmith shoe a restless horse 1 If you have, you have seen him take a small cord and tie the upper lip. Ask him what he docs it for, he will tell you it gives the beast something to think about." Wendell Phillips's Speeches and Lectures. CONFLICTING APPETENCES. 33 cured by multiplied balancings ever liable to be de- ranged. Or, secondly, the conflict may arise from the regurgita- tions of one and the same appetence, as now the stream flows on and is gratified, and again is beat back by cir- cumstances, as by a rock, and is disappointed. The af- fection is the same, but the circumstances and the idea differ, as now there is the appetible to attract, but forth- with the inappetible to repel. Thus love may lead the man to dote on the person loved, or be jealous of her ; now it looks as if he were ready to lay down his life for her, and anon as if he were resolved to take away her life, according as he regards her as returning his affec- tion or favoring a rival. The conflicts may be keen and long continued be- tween the flesh and the spirit, between passion and pru- dence, between the love of earthly enjoyment and the attainment of a high ideal. Often do these conflicting passions produce a fearful agitation, like that of the Bay of Biscay, by the meeting of several tides or currents. The source and the power are deep down in the heart, but they appear on the surface in lashings, crestings, and foam. The person feels his state to be intolerable, but cannot stay it. We see it strikingly exhibited in times of suspense, in which, let it be observed, while there is a suspense of the judgment, there is no suspense of the appetences. A critical event is at hand, which is to de- termine for good or for evil our destiny for life. An office for which we are a candidate is to be settled, or an important offer has been made, which has to be accepted or rejected. What elevations and depressions, what hopes and fears, as the person looks now at the one side, and now at the other, and as chances seem favor- able or unfavorable ! If in the mean time steps have to 3 34 FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. be taken to secure the issue, the exertion may so brace the frame as to keep it from brooding on the results. But if the person has simply to wait, then what alterna- tions of heights and hollows ! What agony on the part of the prisoner when the jury has retired and has not returned to announce the verdict ! What tumultuous waves move through the bosom of the mother, as she sits watching by the sick-bed of her child through that dismal night which she knows to be the crisis of the fever. Or information reaches her that the vessel in which she knows her son was has been shipwrecked ; she is so situated that weeks must elapse before she can learn whether he was actually drowned. And what weeks ! How long they are ! And what terrible tremors by day and visions at night ! the very hopes which she momen- tarily cherishes revealing, what the lightning flash does, only the circumambient darkness. What ups and downs, what exaltations and sinkings of heart, as the lover waits for the answer to his proposal. Some have felt the anxiety to be so intense that they wish for the an- swer to come, even though it should be adverse, rather than continue longer in this state of crucifying apprehen- sion. In many cases the combination is chemical rather than mechanical, and there is a boiling and a fermentation. A mother hears of her son being slain on the field of battle, fighting bravely for his country, and having only time, ere he expired, to send one message, and that of undying love to her. There is necessarily a terrible out- burst of grief, as she thinks how he died, far away from her, with none to stanch his wounds, and that she will never see him again in this world. But then that son was generous and brave, and he remembered me in his last conscious moments, and I would rather be the DOMINANT APPETENCES. 35 mother of that son than of a king or an emperor. But all this only intensifies her sorrow, when she reflects that this son is now torn from her. In all such cases each natural feeling works its proper effect in so far reliev- ing, or it may be intensifying, those combined with it. What a horror of thick darkness, when the mother has to brood over the grave of a son who died in a fit of drunkenness ! SECTION X. DOMINANT APPETENCES. There are some in whom there are a few dominant passions ; some in whom there is only one, — the love of the miser for his gold, of the ambitious man for power, of a lover for his mistress, of a mother for her children. To this last class may be referred the man of one idea, that is, of a favorite project, which may make him a somewhat troublesome member of society ; but if the idea be good, may so concentrate his thoughts and in- tensify his energies, which others waste, as to enable him to accomplish an important end. In cases where the intellect is weak and the views narrow, you have the angular man, the man of crotchets and hobbies. The primary appetence genders others, which feed and sup- port it. The one passion becomes the centre round which other agencies circulate, — associated ideas, plans and projects, private and public interests with daily ac- tivities, — as planets do round the sun, and satellites round the planets. It may come to be the impelling and the guiding power of the whole life, of the affections which cherish it, and of the actions which are the execu- tion of it. The product is commonly an energetic charac- ter, which pursues a path of its own, and moves along like a steam-engine upon the rails set for it, with irresist- 36 FIRST ELEMENT: APPETENCES. ible power and great speed. Weaker natures have to bend before it, as trees do before the tempest. Men thus moved and moving often come to have sway over their districts, over their states, over continents, and over ages to come. It has to be added that they often meet with opposition from men as determined as themselves, and fire is struck by the collision, and they have to rattle on over flinty rocks ; or they are arrested in their course, and per- haps are burned as martyrs. Which of these issues is to follow may depend on their intellectual force, or on the preparedness of the age to receive them. The ruling passion differs, of course, in different indi- viduals. In some cases it leads to deeds of self-sacrifice and devotion which may be regarded as sublime, as when Horatius of old kept the bridge, and Leonidas withstood the Persians at Thermopylae ; as when the mother hesitates not to risk her life in defense of her child, and the sister nurses a brother in a raging fever breathing infection all around, and the martyr dies for the faith. In many cases it is partly for good and partly for evil, as the love of fame when it leads to dashing feats, but may be accompanied with sour jealousy and biting envy, which attacks reputations and disturbs the peace of the community. When the actor is of weak capacity, he is driven along by his passion, as the ship with full-spread sail, but without ballast, or rudder, or compass, is by the winds and waves. When the motive is totally self-regarding, as it is in the case of the miserly, the ambitious, the intemperate, the licentious, it burns within like a fire, absorbing all things into itself, even the powers that oppose it, and devouring them in its flame, which may spread all around and become the bane of the community. When it is thwarted, as it is constantly liable to be, very possibly by the very obstacles it has UNDEVELOPED APPETENCES. 37 raised up, its agitations become as noisy and restless as those of the ocean upon an opposing precipice. When it is totally and finally disappointed, as it must often be, then the bearer and the cherisher of it, Napoleon Bona- parte for instance, at St. Helena, is like an imprisoned vulture nibbling restlessly at its cage. In all cases the heavy weight is apt to disturb the equi- librium of the soul, which becomes misshapen and would be the better of being balanced by some other affections. It fortunately happens that certain minor tastes and kindly dispositions often come in to soften the hardness and selfishness of the character. Macaulay, absorbed in literature, was willing at any time to turn aside from it to write for the amusement of the relatives he loved. What a relief to the business man to unbosom himself in the evening in his family, who may regale him with pleas- ant games, or reading, or music ! The fanatic Robes- pierre had a redeeming feature in his love for his dog and for the lower animals. I knew the mother of an illegiti- mate child, who, for fear of exposure, murdered her infant, but labored through long, wearisome days to support her mother. Tradition reports that Robin Hood and Rob Roy gave large portions of their plunder to the poor. ' SECTION XI. UNDEVELOPED APPETENCES. We have seen that there are native tendencies to ac- tion in all men. All of these do not have an outlet at every given time ; some of them may never find a chan- nel. In the breast of every child there is a whole host of such appetences, ready to come forth like buds in spring. The constant activity of youth arises partly from organic life, but it is excited mainly by the mental 38 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. cravings. It is said that there is as much energy laid up in a dew-drop as would make a thunder-storm; there is certainly power in the breast of that infant sufficient to produce immortal results. There is force pressing in all directions, laid up and ready to burst out when an open- ing is made. The appetences are the varied sources of the life of youth ; as the rain which has fallen into the ground, and runs there in gathered rills, is the feeder of our fountains. The expression of the desires of the young is, " Who will show us any good? " and they are grateful to any one who will give them employment in accordance with their longings ; and you see them running to every pretentious spectacle, and dancing round the blaze of crackling thorns. If a lawful means of expending their energy is not allowed, it will break out in lawless ways ; making it so important to keep youth busy, if we would keep them out of evil. Some boys and girls do not show a particular ten- dency towards any one kind of activity, but seem ready for any kind of work. Others early begin to run along certain marked lines : towards their father's occupation, or towards merchandise, or towards books ; towards mu- sic, or painting, or mechanics, or travel, or science, or philosophy, or practical beneficence. Sometimes it is a long time, and only after repeated failures in roads on which he has entered, that the young man falls in with or finds his appropriate sphere and work. One who expected to be a scholar has to go to business ; and one, like Hugh Miller, who has tried a trade rises to be a man of sci- ence. I felt myself, and I believe others have felt, in the state between youth and manhood, an indefinable longing, coming out like the sighing of a stream in the quiet of the evening, and asking for a settled work in the morn- ing. It is the unuttered prayer of a spirit, which has UNDEVELOPED APPETENCES. 39 unused capacities, craving for an object and for employ- ment. When they are not allowed to come out, the appe- tences smoulder like a suppressed fire. There may be such in the breasts of persons advanced in life. The virgin may never meet with one to whom she chooses to unite herself, but she has all the sensibilities which would make her happy with one she loved. There is an affection in the mother, ready to clasp her infant as soon as it is born. Many a boy has fine impulses which his teacher has not the skill to call forth. There are men and women who have capacities for friendships and benevolences which they have restrained from timidity or from selfishness, and which, therefore, have become gradu- ally dried up. We must all have met with middle-aged or old men, possessed of great talents and wide aspira- tions, but who have never found their proper field to work in, and who feel unhappy in consequence, as they expend their strength on insignificant objects. They remind me of Napoleon in Elba, devoting the intellect which used to combine armies to small farming operations. At times a conjuncture will call forth a capacity which has hitherto lain dormant, as the seed which had been in the mummy for thousands of years will burst forth in open air and a congenial soil. Thus, the death of a father has called forth energies of a hitherto inactive son, and the death of the husband has revealed hitherto unknown capaci- ties of exertion and management in his widow. Any one looking into the mind of a child may discover capabilities there which are to fit it for a sphere in this world. But may we not discover in the soul endow- ments and aspirations, which do not find their fitting action in this, but seem to be intended for another and a higher sphere ? How many cuttings are trained in a 40 FIRST ELEMENT : APPETENCES. nursery here, only to be torn up, but in such a way and with such gifts as to show that they are to be trans- planted into a better soil. There are longings in man which can be satisfied with nothing less than with God. SECTION xn. THE MOTIVELESS MAN. The phrase might be applied to those who have no very strong appetences of any kind. They may have good intellectual abilities ; when a work is forced upon them by circumstances, they may do it thoroughly and effectively ; and from the very fact that they have no predilections, the} 7 may pass a very sound judgment on a case submitted to them. But their temperament, it is said, is sluggish, and they undertake no great work. But the phrase seems rather to be applicable to one who has lost a motive which he at one time had. A wife (I have known many such) has tried for a long time to win back the affection of a husband, or to save him from intemperance. But all her efforts have failed, and when she comes to the conclusion that they must fail for the future she ceases to exert herself. Her whole character and manner are now marked by listlessness. She feels that it is vain to try to please, and her person and her household come to be neglected. The only means of saving her is to furnish to her a ground of hope by the reformation of her husband, or, we have to add, by his death. Much the same state of feeling is apt to be superinduced when one who has long toiled at business finds in old age that his plans have utterly broken down. He feels that there is nothing left him but to give him- self to apathy, from which there is no means of rousing him. Happy, surely, are those who in such a position have motive and hope to start for a better world ! THE MOTIVELESS MAN. 41 The most painful cases are those in which the man has lost motive of every kind. He has failed, or he im- agines that he has failed, in so many things that his habitual sentiment is that nothing will succeed with him. It is of no use laying any proposed line of action before him ; he will scarcely listen to it, or, if he does so for a moment, it is only to sink back into indifference. But meanwhile he is not in the negative and blank position of one who is utterly devoid of incentives. For there may be ambitious inclinations lying within, in a smoul- dering state, which he keeps down simply because he feels that they cannot be gratified, and which have a suffocating effect upon him. With fine capacities of thought and action, he may give himself up to a life of useless lassitude. Or, making one other ecstatic effort issuing in failure, he may abandon himself to despair, or terminate an intolerable existence by suicide. CHAPTER II. SECOND ELEMENT: THE IDEA (PHANTASM). SECTION I. NATURE OF THE IDEA WHICH CALLS FOKTH EMOTION. It is of an object fitted to gratify or to disappoint an appetence of the mind. The mere existence of the ap- petence as a tendency or disposition is not sufficient to call forth feeling, though I have no doubt it is ever prompting it, or rather by the law of association stirring up the idea which gives it a body. There must always be an idea carrying out the appetence to call the emo- tion into actual exercise. If the object be before us, of course we have a perception of it by the senses or we are conscious of it within our minds. If it be not present we have a remembrance of it, or we have formed an imagination of it. That object may be mental or material, may be real or imaginary, may be in the past, the present, or the future ; but there must always be a representation of it in the mind. Let a man stop him- self at the time when passion is rolling like a river, he will find that the idea is the channel in which it flows. An idea is as much needed as a pipe is to conduct gas and enable it to flame ; shut up the conduit and the feel- ing will be extinguished. Other things being equal, the emotion rises and falls according as the idea takes in more or less of the appet- ible. I am told that a dear relative of mine has fallen NATURE OF IDEA WHICH CALLS FORTH EMOTION. 43 from a great height and is dangerously injured. I have a vivid image of that friend as in deep distress, and I am affected with sorrow and with pity. But I am told soon after that the account brought me is so far mistaken : a person had fallen, but he is no friend of mine, and the peculiar tenderness of my feeling is removed. On mak- ing further inquiry, I find that though he fell from a height he is not seriously hurt, and my pity ceases. Ex- amine any other case of emotion and you will always discover an idea as the substratum of the whole, bearing it up as the stake does the living vine. I have come to see that a favorite and long-cherished project of mine may possibly succeed, and I have a faint hope. As events move on, I find that it will probably succeed, and my hope, thus supplied with fuel, kindles into a flame. After a time it becomes certain that I will attain my end, and I have now a settled expectation. My scheme is at last crowned with success, and I have joy. But the crown of green branches placed on my brow begins to wither, I am exposed to blighting cares, envy, and trouble, and there remains nothing but the dead stock of disappointment. Emotion has thus as its body an idea, which determines the life and growth, the decay and death, of the inner spirit. The idea which thus awakens feeling is not an ab- stract or general notion. Pity is called forth by the con- templation, not of humanity in the abstract, but of sen- tient beings, ourselves or others, exposed to suffering. The dread which moves us is not of evil in general, but of some individual evil or evils, such as pain, bereavement, ill usage, insult, contempt, contumely ; emotion is excited when we have an idea of ourselves or others exposed to these or such as these. The mental state is best ex- pressed by an apt Aristotelian phrase which some of us 44 SECOND ELEMENT: THE IDEA. are seeking to revive, phantasm, 1 the faculty from which it proceeds being the phantasy. The phantasy presents a picture of ourselves or others, of a man, woman, or child in sorrow, and our commiseration flows forth apace, all this because we have a fountain within, which how- ever needs an outlet. The phantasm must be of an object which addresses the appetence in the way of gratifying or disappoint- ing it. It must appeal to our desire for pleasure or ap- plause, to our friendship, or to some one or other of the motives which draw mankind. There are some springs of action which seem to sway all men, such as the love of happiness and the desire to please. There are others which are confined to classes or individuals, as the love of money, the love of dress, or of a mother for her boy. The considerations which sway the people of one age, sex, or condition, do not necessarily influence all others or any others. The savage is not apt to be interested in refinements, nor the boy in abstract science ; both require to have the taste created. Nobody in the company may feel an interest in that girl except her lover, who watches her every motion. Appeals which powerfully affect cer- tain persons have no influence on others. The tale of distress which brings tears and alms from this man, meets with no response from that miser whose soul is bound up in his money bags. Even Peter the Hermit could not stir up a crusade of modern armies to recover the Holy Sepulchre. Protestants cannot be made to enter into the enthusiasm of pilgrimages to holy shrines. Modern science has undermined not a few superstitious faiths, which led to practices now regarded as degrading or cruel. One of the grand ends aimed at by education 1 Aristotle announced the doctrine I am expounding, in the language I am using. 'OpenTin6v Se ovk oivev (pavracrias. De Anima, iii. 30. NATURE OF IDEA WHICH CALLS FORTH EMOTION. 45 and by the church should be to implant and cherish high tastes and aspirations. In looking more particularly at the nature of the ideas which raise emotion, it will be found, I believe, that they are singular, that is of individual objects. I have not seen this position laid down anywhere ; but I am prepared to defend it, always with the proper explana- tions and limitations. It is the phantasm that awakens sentiment. But all phantasms are singular. The phan- tasm of a lily is of one lily. The general notion or concept of lily, that is lily in general, is of an indefinite number of lilies, joined by their common type. There is commonly a phantasm involved in the general notion, but it is of a single one, stripped of as many peculiarities as possible, of the individuals which constitute the class, and the phantasm does not constitute the class, but is merely a sign or representative to enable us to think of it. There are various intellectual operations involved in the concept " man," that is man in general, but the image before -the mind is of one man, with the things that distinguish one man from another left out as much as possible. Now the idea that evokes feeling is not of humankind in the general, or of humanity in the ab- stract, but of a man, woman, or child in a state of hap- piness or of distress. But this truth, which is a very important one, requires to be restricted and properly understood ; otherwise it will evidently be false. Under singular ideas are evi- dently to be included collective ones, in which we have an aggregate of individuals, as a congregation, an army. In the ideas are to be comprehended their associations, as those which collect around our birthplace and our home. A man loves his family, his village, his school, his college, his shop, his regiment, his farm, his work- 46 SECOND ELEMENT : THE IDEA. shop, his country, and his church. Clubs and societies often gather round theui an intense interest. There is a sense in which even abstractions and generalizations may call forth feeling, by reason of the individuals em- braced in them and their associations, which may con- vey their sentiment to that which, combines them. The appeals by orators to liberty, to order, to love, or to re- ligion, may have a stimulating influence, and rouse to action. But the feeling is called forth by the associated ideas of persons, many or few, in whom we feel an in- terest. It is always the objects, and not our intellectual separations and combinations of them, which call forth emotion. 1 Whenever abstractions become very refined, or generalizations very wide, so as to be utterly separate from the objects, they cease to evoke feeling, which always comes forth most vividly and strongly when the living beings are set before us personally, as gratifying, or frustrating an affection of our nature. We talk of mankind loving the beautiful and the good, of their delighting in nature, and being awed with the sublime. If we understand these declarations simply as general- expressions of individual truths, they may be allowed to pass. But if we interpret them as meaning that there is emotion raised by the beautiful, the grand, the good, in the general or in the abstract, they leave an erroneous impression. No man ever had his heart kindled by the abstract idea of loveliness, or sublimity, or moral excellence, or any other abstraction. That which calls forth our admiration is a lovely scene, that which raises wonder and awe is a grand scene, that which calls forth love is not loveliness, in the abstract, but a lovely and loving person. That which evokes 1 Aristotle has remarked that common notions (No^aro) are not with- out phantasms (oi5/c &vev