THE COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN. 261 



preliensible that the two traits may, and ordinarily do, coexist. An 

 infant, quickly weary with each kind of perception, wanting ever a 

 new object, which it soon abandons for something else, and alternat- 

 ing a score times a day between smiles and tears, shows us a very 

 small persistence in each kind of mental action : all its states, intel- 

 lectual and emotional, are transient. Yet, at the same time, its mind 

 cannot be easily changed in character. True, it changes spontane- 

 ously in due course ; but it long remains incapable of receiving ideas 

 or emotions beyond those of simple orders. The child exhibits less 

 rapid variations, intellectual and emotional, while its educability is 

 greater. Inferior human rac6s show us this combination, great rigid- 

 ity of general character, with great irregularity in its passing mani- 

 festations. Speaking broadly, while they resist permanent modifica- 

 tion they lack intellectual persistence, and they lack emotional per- 

 sistence. Of various low types we read that they cannot keep the 

 attention fixed beyond a few minutes on any thing requiring thought 

 even of a simple kind. Similarly with their feelings : these are less 

 enduring than those of civilized men. There are, however, qualifica- 

 tions to be made in this statement ; and comparisons are needed to 

 ascertain how far these qualifications go. The savage shows great 

 persistence in the action of the lower intellectual faculties. He is 

 untiring in minute observation. He is untiring, also, in that kind of 

 perceptive activity which accompanies the making of his weapons and 

 ornaments : often persevering for immense periods in carving stones, 

 etc. Emotionally, too, he shows persistence not only in the motives 

 prompting these small industries, but also in certain of his passions 

 especially in that of revenge. Hence, in studying the degrees of men- 

 tal variability shown us in the daily lives of the different races, we 

 must ask how far variability characterizes the whole mind, and how 

 far it holds only of parts of the mind. 



6. Impulsiveness. This trait is closely allied with the last : unen- 

 during emotions are emotions which sway the conduct now this way 

 and now that, without any consistency. The trait of impulsiveness 

 may, however, be fitly dealt with separately, because it has other im- 

 plications than mere lack of persistence. Comparisons of the lower 

 human races with the higher appear generally to show that, along 

 with brevity of the passions, there goes violence. The sudden gusts 

 of feeling which men of inferior types display are excessive in degree 

 as they are short in duration ; and there is probably a connection be- 

 tween these two traits : intensity sooner producing exhaustion. Ob- 

 serving that the passions of childhood illustrate this connection, let us 

 turn to certain interesting questions concerning the decrease of im- 

 pulsiveness which accompanies advance in evolution. The nervous 

 processes of an impulsive being are less remote from reflex actions 

 than are those of an unimpulsive being. In reflex actions we see a 

 simple stimulus passing suddenly into movement : little or no control 



