CHAPTER XXV.* 



THE EMOTIONS. 



In speaking of the instincts it lias been impossible tc 

 keep them separate from the emotional excitements which 

 go with them. Objects of rage, love, fear, etc., not only 

 prompt a man to outward deeds, but provoke characteristic 

 alterations in his attitude and visage, and affect his breath- 

 ing, circulation, and other organic functions in specific ways. 

 When the outward deeds are inhibited, these latter emotional 

 expressions still remain, and we read the anger in the face, 

 though the blow may not be struck, and the fear betrays 

 itself in voice and color, though one may suppress all other 

 sign. Listinctive reactions and emotional expressions tlius 

 shade imperceptihly into each other. Every object that excites 

 an instinct excites an emotion as ivell. Emotions, however, 

 fall short of instincts, in that the emotional reaction usually 

 terminates in the subject's own body, whilst the instinctive 

 reaction is apt to go farther and enter into practical rela- 

 tions with the exciting object. 



Emotional reactions are often excited by objects with 

 which we have no practical dealings. A ludicrous object, 

 for example, or a beautiful object are not necessarily ob- 

 jects to which we do anything ; we simply laugh, or stand 

 in admiration, as the case may be. The class of emotional, 

 is thus rather larger than that of instinctive, impulses, 

 commonly so called. Its stimuli are more numerous, and 

 its expressions are more internal and delicate, and often 

 less practical. The physiological plan and essence of the 

 two classes of impulse, however, is the same. 



As with instincts, so with emotions, the mere memory or 

 imagination of the object may suffice to liberate the excite- 



* Parts of this chapter have already appeared in an article published 

 in 1884 in Mind. 



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