Account of 
Dr Smith. 
40 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 
“ the emotions of the by-ftander always correfpond to what, 
“ by bringing the cafe home to himfelf, he i since fhould be 
“ the fentiments of the fufferer.”’ 
To this principle of our nature which leads us to enter into 
the fituations of other men, and to partake with them in the 
paflions which thefe fituations have a tendency to excite, Mr 
SmiITH gives the name of /ympathy or fellow-feeling, which two 
words he employs as fynonymous. Upon fome occafions, he 
acknowledges, that fympathy arifes merely from the view of a 
certain emotion in another perfon ; but in general it arifes, not 
fo much from the view of the emotion, as from that of the fi- 
tuation which excites it. 
2. A symparTuy or fellow-feeling between different perfons 
is always agreeable to both. When I am in a fituation which 
excites any paflion, it is pleafant to me to know, that the fpec- 
tators of my fituation enter with me into all its various circum- 
ftances, and are affected with them in the fame manner as I 
am myfelf. On the other hand, it is pleafant to the {pectator 
to obferve this correfpondence of his emotions with mine. 
3. Wuew the fpeftator of another man’s fituation, upon 
bringing home to himfelf all its various circumitances, feels 
himfelf affected in the fame manner with the perfon principally 
concerned, he approves of the affection or paflion of this per- 
fon as juft and proper and fuitable to its object. The excep- 
tions which occur to this obfervation are, according to Mr 
SmiTH, only apparent. “ A ftranger, for example, pailes by 
“usin the ftreet with all the marks of the deepeft affliction ; 
“ and we are immediately told, that he has juft received the 
“ news of the death of his father. It is impoflible that, in this 
cafe, we fhould not approve of his grief; yet it may often 
happen, without any defect of humanity on our part, that, 
‘* fo far from entering into the violence of his forrow, we 
fhould fcarce conceive the firft movements of concern upon 
his account. We have learned, however, from experience, 
3 . * that 
