652 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



at the sight of an ugly object ; an offensive smell or taste provokes it ; and 

 it may even be caused by the bearing or general look of people. The impulse 

 is always to shrink from the object which inspires the emotion ; for example, 

 to cast out of the mouth what is offensive to the taste. In all directions 

 the biological value of this instinct of repulsion is very evident, in protecting 

 man from things that may injure him unawares. 



One important instinct remains : viz. the pugnacious, with its corre- 

 sponding emotion of anger. We have already seen how powerful this 

 emotion is, and how it may be aroused in a great variety of ways. Its 

 operation is evidenced in the life of society in the conflicts which arise 

 between nations or between different sections in the same nation. Its 

 strength carries men on to untold sacrifice and exertion. In one respect 

 it holds a unique position : the reason for its coming into play is very often 

 that one or other of the remaining instincts is thwarted. The best example 

 is perhaps that of animals, when in the mating season the reproductive 

 instinct is denied expression. Then the animal's anger will turn on anything 

 without discrimination. 



Two subsidiary instincts of importance should be mentioned. One of 

 them, the instinct of construction, is apparent from the desire men have 

 to make things, whether these things are useful or not ; and even more 

 apparent from the activities of children. The other is also very easily 

 noticed, the instinct of acquisition. We have instances of it at all stages 

 in the life of the individual ; from the time when, as a boy, he collects foreign 

 stamps, till the period of manhood when his collection may be of pictures 

 or books. Men, too, go on acquiring wealth when it will not be possible 

 either for themselves or for their children to use it all. 



Anyone who would understand the complex factors which go to make 

 up the civilisation we know, must begin by realising that the instincts are 

 the prime sources of human activity. From the impulses that follow from 

 the instincts, we derive the motive power for every train of thought, for 

 every feeUng or action. The instincts are the steam without which the 

 engine would be useless, the key without which the door of life would never 

 be opened. It might be objected that man as he is to-day is not a creature 

 that shows himself to be to any noticeable extent subject to the free working 

 of these prime movers. Superficially that is true ; for it cannot be said 

 that in our everyday life we continually show the simple, undiluted workings 

 of the instincts. Our life is not a series of clear examples of actions which 

 can immediately be traced to the operation of a single instinct at a time. 

 The play of intelligent adaptation and control has rendered it possible for 

 man to achieve the habit of living in societies, as he does to-day, where his 

 relations with other men may be complex to a very high degree, and where, 

 as a consequence, his actions are no longer simple and easily explained, 

 but are in many ways compounded of varying mixtures of his instincts. It 

 is obvious, for example, that our attitude to other men is not always one 

 of fear, or anger, or curiosity, or tender emotion, or of any one of the instinc- 

 tive attitudes. Our relations show the existence of a large group of complex 

 emotions such as admiration, reverence, contempt, loathing, reproach, 

 anxiety, shame, revenge ; and also of experiences like love, hate, and respect, 

 which we call sentiments. 



In giving the name of "sentiment " to love, hate, and respect, we are recog- 

 nising that they are different in kind from both the primary and the complex 

 emotions. We can see the force of that distinction if we recollect that we 

 may experience a large number of these emotions towards the persons we 

 love or hate or respect, according to the circumstances they are in. For an 

 object of our love we may have anxiety, jealousy, or resentment. From 

 that we may deduce that these sentiments are made up of tendencies to 

 experience certain of the emotions towards the persons whom we love, hate, 



