38 Heredity and Social Progress 



which destroys structure and restores the more 

 primitive previous condition. An emotion has 

 no special structure or mechanism for its own 

 expression, but uses structure created for other 

 ends. A laugh is expressed by muscles built 

 for structural ends, and having uses in the pro- 

 cesses of adjustment, while a tear comes from 

 a gland originated for other purposes. The 

 muscles which express emotion are merely used 

 in a new way, or in a different combination 

 from that of the instinctive use by which they 

 aid adjustment. A strain upon them may 

 weaken or destroy some of the structural rela- 

 tions that have made them instinctive in 

 action. Emotion, then, destroys or makes a 

 waste which, if repeated, finally ends in throw- 

 ing the organism back into a more primitive 

 condition with poorer adjustment and fewer 

 organs and mechanisms. 



These statements do not differ so much as 

 would at first appear from current views. Pro- 

 fessor James tells us that there are " no special 

 brain centres for emotion," 1 which indicates 

 that the emotions start in centres and follow 



1 "Psychology, 1 ' Vol. II., Chap. XXV. 



