782 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of a pile-driver which thumped down every two or three minutes upon 

 a post. The bystanders would shut their eyes at every crash of the 

 machine, and I was not any more able than they were to keep from 

 doing so. 



Three other conditions favorable to the excitation of fear are those 

 of the unknown, of darkness, and of solitude. The fear of the un- 

 known has been named misoneism, /xto-os, dislike / ve'os, new) ; or, to use 

 a more familiar etymology, neophobia. It is best exemplified in 

 children and savages ; for in mature man use and reason have, as a 

 rule, intervened to correct the instinctive feeling. An infant is nearly 

 always afraid at the first sight of a strange animal, even though it be 

 not very large, but may soon become accustomed to its presence. To 

 savages also, whose intelligence is of an infantine grade, everything 

 that does not enter into the line of daily objects is the subject of fear, 

 when it is imposing in size and vigorous in movement, or of simple 

 amazement when it is small and appears inoffensive. Higher minds, 

 instead of shunning novelty, seek it eagerly. In the student, curiosity 

 takes the place of neophobia. But that curiosity implies a degree of 

 courage ; for every unknown thing supposes a possible danger, and 

 real complete security exists only in the face of objects the innocence 

 of which we have tested. We are thus brought back by a rather tor- 

 tuous way to what we have already said of habit, exercise, and profes- 

 sional courage. 



Animals that are used to see man frequently cease to fear his pres- 

 ence. Domestic animals have no such fear of man as wild animals 

 show. Animals also which have never been hunted show no fear 

 when a person comes among them. The most cowardly animals are 

 those which have been most actively pursued. The character of being 

 wild and easily frightened seems to be one that is transmissible to de- 

 scendants. Since there is no reason for fear existing when there is 

 nothing threatening, the emotion in animals can be explained only by 

 the fact that for series of generations they have been obliged to sus- 

 tain themselves by flight against aggressors upon them. Neophobia, 

 therefore, should be met among those animals which have experienced 

 dangers, or whose ancestors have experienced dangers. It does not 

 have to be shown that nearly all animals come under these condi- 

 tions. The more unknown the unknown, the greater is the fear ; and 

 the fear of what are supposed to be supernatural phenomena is, where 

 it exists, extremely great. 



The effect of darkness in increasing or creating fear is explained 

 by reference to the unknown as a principal cause of the emotion. 

 Darkness is, in fact, the unknown. Light is the one of all the senses that 

 tells us most clearly what is around us ; and when it can not perform 

 its part we are of necessity unquiet and troubled. A man traveling 

 in the open field in the full light of day sees everything around him, 

 and goes on boldly in the knowledge that no enemy can escape his 



