A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF FEAR. 779 



There are, then, two kinds of bravery that of the person who 

 does not suffer from fear, which is easy and of little merit, and the 

 bravery of a person who overcomes his fear. Such a person, in my 

 opinion, is more courageous than any other ; but, though I have great 

 respect for him, I should put but little confidence in him, for his heroic 

 effort may be overcome at any time, and virtue, beautiful as it is, is 

 less solid than absence of emotion. 



He who is overcome by fear and runs away with all his might is 

 certainly not brave, and is not entitled to any eulogy ; but we should 

 be indulgent to him. Who knows whether, with a few words of en- 

 couragement or enthusiasm, or by becoming accustomed to danger, he 

 might not have been able to conquer his innate sensibility ? Doubt- 

 less the bravest also have their moments of failure ; even if they have 

 not yet had them, the time may come when, .surprised by a violent, 

 sudden, and irresistible emotion, they will not be strong enough to 

 triumph over themselves. 



We begin the inquiry into the function of fear in the animal econ- 

 omy with the assertion that none of the natural feelings are for noth- 

 ing. Whatever theory of the origin of beings we adopt, we are always 

 forced to recognize that everything within us serves some end. Fear 

 shows us where danger lies, creates aversion to that danger, and forces 

 us to flee from it, and is, therefore, a protective instinct. We need to 

 be protected. If we had only our intelligence to inform us of danger, 

 we should be very frequently in peril, and our existence would be 

 greatly abbreviated. Nature seems to have a great distrust of in- 

 telligence, and to have given it an insignificant part in our self-protec- 

 tion. Emotion comes in first, and intelligence afterward. Wounds 

 that make blood flow are dangerous to the organism ; but, if we had 

 to be convinced of the danger from this source to save ourselves from 

 it, men would long ago have disappeared from the earth. Nature has 

 taken the simpler way of endowing us with such sensitiveness to pain 

 that we avoid being wounded, not because the wound lets the blood 

 flow, but for the more evident reason that it hurts us. So we avoid 

 exposing ourselves to danger, not because it is danger, but because we 

 are afraid. 



Of the two elements in fear, the internal emotion, of which the 

 consciousness takes cognizance, and the reflex action, all beings have 

 the reflex element ; but the emotion, so far as we can perceive, does 

 not appear to be equally present in all. Apparently, it is more pow- 

 erful the more intelligence is developed ; and inferior, unintelligent 

 beings, feel neither pain nor fear with as much force as man. In 

 passing from the brute to man, fear is transformed and generalized. 

 With the animal it is instinctive, answering to no idea. The hen is 

 afraid of the fox, without knowing that the fox may eat it ; the gud- 

 geon of the pike, without thinking of its voracity. The horse shies 

 at the sound of thunder, without knowing that lightning can kill him. 



