1 86 Habit and Instinct. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE EMOTIONS IN THEIR RELATION TO INSTINCT. 



In attempting to deal with the relation of emotion to habit 

 and instinct, we must devote our attention chiefly to the 

 objective aspect : to the outward manifestations and the 

 organic conditions of emotional states. The inner or 

 subjective aspect must always be largely conjectural, in- 

 volving as it does a difficult and admittedly hazardous 

 application of the adage, " Put yourself in his place." 

 We see an animal habitually act in a more or less definite 

 way under certain given circumstances, and we interpret 

 the facts as arising out of, or accompanied by, what is 

 termed an emotion. My fox-terrier, for example, whenever 

 he meets a particular black poodle, at once begins to dance 

 round him and bark — he is usually a remarkably silent 

 dog — while his coat above the backbone bristles up. One 

 interprets this as the expression of an emotional state. 

 But on trying to determine the exact nature of the state, 

 we find it by no means easy so far to put ourselves into 

 the fox-terrier's place as to enable us even to guess, with 

 anything approaching accuracy, what his emotional feel- 

 ings are like. The poodle, I may say, takes very little 

 notice of Tony's demonstration, and even the fox-terrier 

 himself does not appear to mean serious business. Quite 

 different, at any rate, is his demeanour when there is a 

 probability, or even the bare possibility, of a fight. He 



