204 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN IIIMSELF. 

 REMORSE EXPLAINED. 



Several critics have objected that though 

 some slight regret or repentance may be ex- 

 plained by the view advocated in this chapter, it is impos- 

 sible thus to account for the soul-shaking feeling of 

 remorse. But I can see little force in this objection. My 

 critics do not define what they mean by remorse, and I 

 can find no definition implying more than an overwhelm- 

 ing sense of repentance. Eemorse seems to bear the 

 same relation to repentance as rage does to anger, or agony 

 to pain. It is far from strange that an instinct so strong 

 and so generally admired as maternal love should, if dis- 

 obeyed, lead to the deepest misery, as soon as the impres- 

 sion of the past cause of disobedience is weakened. Even 

 when an action is opposed to no special instinct, merely 

 to know that our friends and equals despise us for it is 

 enough to cause great misery. Who can doubt that the 

 refusal to fight a duel through fear has caused many men 

 an agony of shame ? Many a Hindoo, it is said, has been 

 stirred to the bottom of his soul by having partaken of 

 unclean food. Here is another case of what must, I 

 think, be called remorse. Dr. Landor acted as a magis- 

 trate in "West Australia, and relates that a native on his 

 farm, after losing one of his wives from disease, came and 

 said that "he was going to a distant tribe to spear a 

 woman, to satisfy his sense of duty to his wife." I told 

 him that if he did so I would send him to prison for life. 

 He remained about the farm for some months, but got 

 exceedingly thin, and complained that he could not rest 

 or eat, that his wife's spirit was haunting him because he 

 had not taken a life for hers. I was inexorable, and 

 assured him that nothing should save him if he did. 

 Nevertheless, the man disappeared for more than a year, 



