lib OF INSTINCT. Sect. XVI. 3. u 



fight when others are under the influence of thefe affections. 

 So when two cocks are preparing to fight, each feels the feath- 

 ers rife round his own neck, and knows from the fame fign the 

 difpofition of his adverfary : and children long before thev can 

 fpeak, or underftand the language of their parents, may be 

 frightened by an angry countenance, or toothed by fmiles and 

 blandishments. 



Secondly, when we put ourfelves into the attitude that any 

 paffion naturally occafions, we foon in fome degree acquire that 

 paflion ; hence when thofe that fcold indulge themfclves in loud 

 oaths, and violent actions of the arms, they increafe their anger 

 by the mode of expreffing themfelves : and on the contrary the 

 counterfeited fmile of pleafure in difagreeable company foon 

 brings along with it a portion of fhe reality, as is well illuftrated 

 by Mr. Burke, (Eflay on the Sublime and Beautiful.) 



This latter method of entering into the paftions of others is 

 tendered of very extenfive ufe by the pleafure we take in imita- 

 tion, which is every day prefented before our eyes, in the actions 

 of children, and indeed in all the cuftoms and fafhions of the 

 world. From this our aptitude to imitation, arifes what is gen- 

 eral!'/ underftood by the word fympathy fo well explained by Dr. 

 Smith of Glafgow. Thus the appearance of a cheerful Coun- 

 tenance gives us pleafure, and of a melancholy one makes us 

 forrowful. Yawning and fometime°> vomiting are -thus propa- 

 gated by fympathy, and fome people of delicate fibres, at the 

 prefence of a fpectacle of mifery, have felt pain in the fame 

 parts of their own bodies, that were difealed or mangled in the 

 o:her. Amongft the writers of antiquity Ariftotlc thought this 

 aptitude to imitation an eiTential property of the human fpecies, 

 2nd calls man an imitative animal. To fyw {upupiw. 



Thefe then are the natural figns by which we underftand each 



her, and on this flender bafij is built all human language. For 

 without fome natural figns, no artificial ones could have been 

 invented or underftood, as is very ingenioufly obferved by Dr. 



id, (Inquiry into the Human Mind.) 



VIII. The origin of this urtiverfal language isafubjecr. of the 

 higheft curiofity, the knowledge of which has always been 

 thought utterly inacceffible. A part of which we fhall however 

 here attempt. 



Light, found, and odours, are unknown to the foetus in the 

 womb, which, except the few fenfations and motions already 

 mentioned, fleeps away its time infenfible of the bufy world. 

 But the moment it arrives into day, it begins to experience 

 rmny vivid pains and pleafures ; thefe are at the fame time at- 

 tended with certain mufcuiar motions, and from this their 



early, 



