SOME HUMAN INSTINCTS. 671 



the play-impulse, that a boy gets more pleasure from a horse and 

 rider and a soldier than from a doll, while with the girl the opposite is 

 the case, is proof that an hereditary connection exists between the 

 perception of certain things (horse, doll, etc.), and the feeling of pleas- 

 ure, as well as between this latter and the impulse to play." * 



There is another sort of human play, into which higher aesthetic 

 feelings enter. I refer to that love of festivities, ceremonies, ordeals, 

 etc., which seems to be universal in our species. The lowest savages 

 have their dances, more or less formally conducted. The various re- 

 ligions have their solemn rites and exercises, and civic power symbol- 

 izes its grandeur by processions and celebrations of divers sorts. We 

 have our operas and parties and masquerades. An element common 

 to all these ceremonial games, as they may be called, is the excitement 

 of concerted action as one of an organized crowd. The same acts, 

 performed with a crowd, seem to mean vastly more than when per- 

 formed alone. A walk with the people on a holiday afternoon, an 

 excursion to drink beer or coffee at a popular " resort," or an ordinary 

 ball-room, are examples of this. Not only are we amused at seeing so 

 many strangers, but there is a distinct stimulation at feeling our share 

 in their collective life. The perception of them is the stimulus, and 

 the reaction upon it is our tendency to join them and do what they 

 are doing, and our unwillingness to be the first to leave off and go 

 home alone. This seems a primitive element in our nature, as it is 

 difficult to trace any association of ideas that could lead up to it ; 

 although, once granting it to exist, it is very easy to see what its uses 

 to a tribe might be in facilitating prompt and vigorous collective 

 action. The formation of armies, and the undertaking of military 

 expeditions would be among its fruits. In the ceremonial games, it 

 is but the impulsive starting-point. What particular things the crowd 

 then shall do, depends for the most part on the initiative of indi- 

 viduals, fixed by imitation and habit, and continued by tradition. 

 The co-operation of other aesthetic pleasures with games, ceremonial 

 or other, has a great deal to do with the selection of such as shall be- 

 come stereotyped and habitual. The peculiar form of excitement 

 called by Professor Bain the emotion of pursuit, the pleasure of a 

 crescendo, is the soul of many common games. The immense extent 

 of the play-activities in human life is too obvious to be more than 

 mentioned.f 



Curiosty. Already pretty low down among vertebrates we find 

 that any object may excite attention, provided it be only novel, and 



* " Der Menschliche Wille," p. 205. 



f Professor Lazarus (" Die Reize des Spieles," Berlin, 1883, p. 44) denies that we have 

 an instinct to play, and says the root of the matter is the aversion to remain unoccupied, 

 which substitutes a sham occupation when no real one is ready. No doubt this is true ; 

 but why the particular forms of sham occupation ? The elements of all bodily games and 

 of ceremonial games are given by direct excito-motor stimulations just as when puppies 

 chase one another and swallows have a parliament. 



