436 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



made thoroughly uncomfortable by its after effects in their own 

 emotions. The following story, trivial in itself, is not trivial in 

 meaning : " Once, when I had two apples, I wished to give one to 

 my playmate ; I knew she would expect the best one, which I also 

 wished for myself, so I held out the best side of the poorer one 

 and made her think that was the better of the two. Her belief 

 that I had really given her the best took away all the sweetness 

 from my own apple, and I decided that straightforwardness was 

 better." This instance, as well as others pointing in the same 

 direction, so far as they would justify any conclusion, fall in line 

 with the case reported by Professor James relative to the experi- 

 ence of a deaf-mute. This boy had stolen ten dollars, thinking it 

 a smaller sum, having previously stolen many small amounts 

 with no compunctions of conscience. In this case, the reaction 

 into himself was, so to speak, so massive and bulky that he be- 

 came thoroughly uncomfortable and ashamed ; was brought spon- 

 taneously to recognizing its badness, and kept from stealing money 

 in the future. This genuine meaning of the innate theory of con- 

 science seems accordingly, to Professor James, to mean that any 

 act, if it can be experienced with adequate detail and fullness, 

 " with all that it comports," will manifest its intrinsic quality.* 



2. An astonishingly large number record that they got their 

 first distinct moral impressions through punishment, and of these 

 a considerable fraction got the idea that the chief reason for 

 doing right was to avoid punishment in the future. This di- 

 vision runs into that dealing with the religious motive, as some- 

 times the fear was of punishment from parent, sometimes from 

 God ; it also runs into the fourth head to be considered, practi- 

 cally if not logically, for a number record that the motive ap- 

 pealed to by their father was fear of punishment, while that of 

 their mother was love of her, and grief caused by wrongdoing. 



A few samples tell, in different language, the almost uniform 

 tale of the outcome of the appeal to force. " I rebelled with feel- 

 ings of hatred and of desire for revenge. It seemed to me unjust, 

 imposed by sheer force, not reason." One tells the story of being 

 coaxed by older boys to steal some tobacco from his father. " I 

 was caught and given a whipping, no questions being asked and 

 no explanation given. The result was certainly a fear of punish- 

 ment in the future, but no moral impression. I thought my 

 father whipped me because he wanted the tobacco himself, and so 

 objected to my having any of it." Another reports that the im- 

 pression left by punishment was a mixture of a feeling of personal 

 indignity suffered a feeling so strong as to blot out the original 



* Philosophic Review, vol. i, p. 674. I can but think, however, that Professor James is 

 very charitable in ascribing to the ordinary intuitionalist any such reasonable view. 



