. 3. REPETITION AMD IMITATION. 299 



play, or in delineating a flower; or in the common 

 actions of our lives, as in our drefs, cookery, lan- 

 guage, manners, and even in our habits of think- 

 ing. 



Not only the greateft part of mankind learn all the 

 common arts of life by imitating others, biit brute 

 animals feem capable of acquiring knowledge with 

 greater facility by imitating each other, than by any 

 methods by which we can teach them ; as dogs and 

 cats, when they are fick, learn of each other to eat 

 grafs ; and I fuppofe, that by making an artificial 

 dog perform certain tricks, as in dancing on his 

 hinder legs, a Irving dog might be eafily induced to 

 imitate them ; and that the readied way of inftruct- 

 ing dumb animals is by practifing them with others 

 of the fame fpecies, which have already learned the 

 artswewifhto teach them. The important ufe of 

 imitation in acquiring natural language is mentioned 

 in Sed. XVI. 7. and 8. on Inftinct. 



3. The fenfitive imitations are the immediate con- 

 fequences of pleafure or pain, and thefe are often pro- 

 duced even contrary to the efforts of the will. Thus 

 many young men on feeing cruel furgical operations 

 become fick, and fome even feel pain in the parts of 

 their own bodies, which they fee tortured or wounded 

 in others ; that is, they in fome meafure imitate by the 

 exertions of their own fibres the violent actions, 

 which they witnefTed in thofe of others. In this cafe 

 a double imitation takes place, firft the obferver imi- 

 tates with the extremities of the optic nerve the 

 mangled limbs, which are prefent before his eyes ; 

 then by a fecond imitation he excites fo violent action 

 of the fibres of his own limbs as to produce pain in 

 thofe parts of his own body, which he faw wounded 

 in another. In thefe pains produced by imitation 

 the effect has fome fimilarity to the caufe, which dif- 

 tinguifhes them from thofe produced by allociation ; 

 as the pains of the teeth, called tooth-edge, which 



VOL. I. X are 





