The Descent of Man 47 



Having stated our wide divergence from Mr. Darwin with 

 "respect to what the term ' moral sense ' denotes, we might be 

 dispensed from criticising instances which must from our 

 point of view be irrelevant, as Mr. Darwin would probably 

 admit. Nevertheless, let us examine a few of these instances, 

 and see if we can discover in them any justification of the 

 views he propounds. 



As illustrations of the development of self-reproach for 

 the neglect of some good action, he observes : — 



' 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 experi- 

 encing some pleasure or pain may be erroneous. 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; and this 

 is especially true in regard to persons of feeble intellect.' — Vol. i. 

 p. 80. 



Now, passing over the question whether in the ' pointing ' 

 and ' patting ' referred to there may not be some agreeable 

 sensations, we contend that such instincts have nothing to 

 do with ' morality,' from their bhnd nature, such blindness 

 simply iipso facto eliminating every vestige of morality from 

 an action. 



Mr. Darwin certainly exaggerates the force and extent of 

 social sympathetic feelings. Mr. Mill admits that they are 

 ' often wanting ' ; but Mr. Darwin claims the conscious pos- 

 session of such feelings for all, and quotes Hume as saying 

 that the view of the happiness of others ' communicates a 

 secret joy,' while the appearance of their misery 'throws a 

 melancholy damp over the imagination.' ^ One might wish 

 that this remark were universally true, but unfortunately 



^ Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, edit. 1751, p. 132. 



