Chap. IV. Moral Sense. 105 



a strong feeling of inward satisfaction must impel a bird, so full 

 of activity, to brood day after day over her eggs. Migratory 

 birds are quite miserable if stopped from migrating; perhaps 

 they enjoy starting on their long flight ; but it is hard to believe 

 that the poor pinioned goose, described by Audubon, which 

 started on foot at the proper time for its journey of probably 

 more than a thousand miles, could, have felt any joy in doing so. 

 Some instincts are determined solely by painful feelings, as by 

 fear, which leads to self-preservation, and is in some cases directed 

 towards special enemies. No one, I presume, can analyse the 

 sensations of pleasure or pain. In many instances, however, it 

 is probable that instincts are persistently followed from the 

 mere force of inheritance, without the stimulus of either 

 pleasure or pain. A young pointer, when it first scents game, 

 apparently cannot help pointing. A squirrel in a cage who pats 

 the nuts which it cannot eat, as if to bury them in the ground, 

 can hardly be thought to act thus, either from pleasure or pain. 

 Hence the common assumption that men must be impelled to 

 every action by experiencing some pleasure or pain may be erro- 

 neous. Although a habit may be blindly and implicitly 

 followed, independently of any pleasure or pain felt at the 

 moment, yet if it be forcibly and abruptly checked, a vague 

 sense of dissatisfaction is generally experienced. 



It has often been assumed that animals were in the first place 

 rendered social, and that they feel as a consequence uncomfort- 

 able when separated from each other, and comfortable whilst 

 together ; but it is a more probable view that these sensations 

 were first developed, in order that those animals which would 

 profit by living in society, should be induced to live together, 

 in the same manner as the sense of hunger and the pleasure of 

 eating were, no doubt, first acquired in order to induce animals 

 to eat. The feeling of pleasure from society is probably an 

 extension of the parental or filial affections, since the social 

 instinct seems to be developed by the young remaining for a 

 long time with their parents ; and this extension may be attri- 

 buted in part to habit, but chiefly to natural selection. With 

 those animals which were benefited by living in close association, 

 the individuals which took the greatest pleasure in society 

 would best escape various dangers; whilst those that cared 

 least for their comrades, and lived solitary, would perish in 

 greater numbers. With respect to the origin of the parental 

 and filial affections, which apparently lie at the base of the 

 social instincts, we know not the steps by which they have 

 been gained ; but we may infer that it has been to a large 

 extent through natural selection. So it has almost certainly 



