282 THE HUMAN SPECIES 



gone, and is still undergoing, a progressive development, but 

 is also subject to the same struggle for existence between the 

 weak and the strong (i.e., between different words) as governs 

 organic life. Many words must have lost ground in the struggle 

 even after surviving for countless years ; many others must 

 have passed later into new forms, or disappeared entirely. 

 Philologists have actually shown that conjugation and de- 

 clension are originally derived from separate words which have 

 ultimately become fused together. 



Emotions and their Expression. 



By emotions we understand the complex idea of the various 

 feelings of the human, or animal, mind, \vhich may be mani- 

 fested as sensations of pleasure or disgust, as volitions of nega- 

 tion and assent, or love and hate. An animal experiences all 

 these feelings no less than man. The peculiar individual dis- 

 position known as temperament is present in both. Men 

 equally with animals are, according to Kant, " light and heavy 

 blooded" on the one hand, and "warm and cold blooded" on 

 the other. At the highest rung of the ladder stands civilised 

 man with his infinite shades of emotional life, his varying 

 emotions being manifested in his speech, his movements of ex- 

 pression and his actions. 



For a state of mind free from all unpleasant feelings, a 

 state of complete contentment, we have the good German word 

 <( gemiitlich ". Human contentment is represented by the man 

 who has finished his day's work, and is sitting enjoying himself 

 in the circle of his family or friends ; in animals by the siesta 

 after a full meal. Both in man and animals, the look of the eye 

 is peaceful, the muscles of facial expression, so far as they exist 

 in animals, are relaxed. Among cats, not only the ordinary 

 domestic cat but the larger cats, the lynx, leopard and the 

 Indian leopard, there is a peculiar way of expressing content- 

 ment by purring. When this feeling of pleasure increases to 

 actual delight and joy the eyes flash with admiration in both 

 men and those animals who possess higher psychic capacities ; 

 at the same time the voice utters sounds full of vivacity accom- 

 panied by movements of the head, limbs and tail. The shout 

 of joy and "hurrah! " of man have their counterpart among 



