86 INSTINCTS 



impulse with the dog ; and we may perhaps see 

 traces of it in the comical bows that are executed 

 by penguins when surprised by the apparition 

 of Antarctic explorers. Its most humiliating 

 forms are characteristic of savage communities: 

 it is a leading feature of all religions, and amongst 

 civilized nations it survives in the salutations of 

 everyday life. The curious habit of, apparently, 

 feigning death, practised in the face of danger by 

 some insects and higher animals, may be a mani- 

 festation of this impulse. Its origin can hardly 

 be explained by suppositions of evolutionary 

 utility, and we are quite likely to be incorrect in 

 imagining that it is of practical value. 



The manifestations of the aesthetic impulses are 

 accompanied by a mental attitude of self-aban- 

 donment, an emotion of ecstasy, which is strongly 

 contrasted with the prim egotism of pelf -conscious 

 life. We may observe this emotion in the soaring 

 lark, and in the impassioned orator or artist. It 

 is a characteristic feature of earnest religious 

 experiences ; and the transfiguration of moods 

 that is compelled by its influence, affords the 

 intense relief which is felt by the " sick soul " 

 that is bathed in the deep waters of spiritual 

 self-abandonment. 



ETHICAL IMPULSES. We now come to a set of 

 impulses which are popularly supposed to be a 

 splendid monopoly of mankind's. They are 

 characterized by self-control, or self-repression, 

 and they are essentially opposed to aesthetic 

 promptings. Some of them, such as justice, 

 honesty, and truth, benefit others as well as those 

 who act upon them : others, such as courage, 

 purity, patience, and asceticism, are almost wholly 

 self -regarding. So different are these impulses from 

 the instincts of practical life that their possession 



