298 NATURE AND MAN. 



to be exerted in modifying the preponderance which the motives 

 per se would determine. The affirmation that our actions are 

 determined by the strongest motives, appears to me, indeed, a 

 mere truism ; being only another mode of saying that the motive 

 which prevails is the strongest. For we have no other test of the 

 relative strength of motives, than that which is afforded by our 

 experience of their action in each individual case. If we put into 

 a balance two bodies of known densities, we can predict, by the 

 comparison of their dimensions, which will preponderate. But, if 

 the density of one or both is unknown, we can only determine 

 which is the heavier by seeing which scale goes down. And so 

 we can have no other measure of the relative strength of motives 

 of different orders, than that which is afforded by their respective 

 effects in the determination of the conduct. Now, all experience 

 shows that motives which may exert a preponderating influence at 

 one moment, are comparatively powerless at another; on the 

 other hand, motives whose influence at one moment is scarcely 

 felt, may come to acquire a force that makes them far outweigh 

 those which at first overbalanced them. This is especially 

 apparent when we exert our volitional power of " self-control " 

 to check the immediate action which is prompted by some auto- 

 matic impulse ; time being thus gained for the excited feeling to 

 subside, and for the " second thoughts" of the higher reason to 

 make themselves heard.* And a further reflection on our own 

 mental experiences will satisfy us, that these variations in the 

 relative strength of motives mainly arise from the degree of atten- 

 tion that we give to each respectively. An excited feeling which 

 would soon die out if left to itself, will retain its potency, or even 

 gain augmented force, if we allow ourselves to brood over it; 

 whilst, on the other hand, the power of those remoter considera- 

 tions which deliberation suggests, increases in proportion as they 

 are dwelt on. And just as in the case of the two magnets, we 

 may reverse their relative attractions by changing their respective 

 distances from the iron between them, so can each Ego who has 

 acquired the power of directing his own course of thought and 



* It is not always, however, that "second thoughts are best." For the 

 immediate impulse may be a bmevoUnt one, and the "second thoughts" 

 deliberately selfish. 



