112 LESSONS FROM NATURE. [CHAP. V. 



judge that she ought not to have left them. To make clear 

 our point, let us imagine a man formerly entangled in ties 

 of affection which in justice to another his conscience has 

 induced him to sever. The image of the distress his act of 

 severance has caused may occasion him keen emotional suf 

 fering for years, accompanied by a clear perception that his 

 act has been right. Again, let us suppose another case : The 

 struggling father of a family becomes aware that the property 

 on which he lives really belongs to another, and he relin 

 quishes it. He may continue to judge that he has done a 

 proper action, whilst tortured by the trials in which his act 

 of justice has involved him. To assert that these acts are 

 merely instinctive would be absurdly false. In the cases 

 supposed, obedience is paid to a clear intellectual perception 

 and against the very strongest instincts. 



Mr. Darwin objects to the belief that the word &quot; ought &quot; 

 means more than &quot; the consciousness of the existence of a 

 persistent instinct,&quot; the fact that we say &quot; hounds ought to 

 hunt,&quot; &c. But in fact when we so judge of them, we mean 

 that they do not fulfil their end as hounds or pointers if 

 they fail. The case of a Chinese convert, who, against his 

 life-long training and the universal opinion of his fellows, 

 elects a life of self-denial ending in martyrdom, is one of a 

 kind not included in Mr. Darwin s provisions. 



That we have not misrepresented Mr. Darwin s exposition 

 of &quot;conscience&quot; is manifest. He says that if a man has 

 gratified a passing instinct, to the neglect of an enduring 

 instinct, he &quot; will then feel dissatisfied with himself, and will 

 resolve with more or less force to act differently for the 

 future. This is conscience ; for conscience looks backwards 

 and judges past actions, inducing that kind of dissatisfaction, 

 which if weak we call regret, and if severe remorse &quot; (vol. i. 

 p. 91). &quot;Conscience&quot; certainly &quot;looks back and judges,&quot; 

 but not all that &quot;looks back and judges&quot; is &quot;conscience.&quot; 

 A judgment of conscience is one of a particular kind, namely, 

 a judgment according to the standard of moral worth. But 

 for this, a gourmand, suffering after dinner from dyspepsia 



