146 THE DESCENT OF M^N 



see how this view explains the fact that sympathy is excited 

 in an immeasurably stronger degree by a beloved than by an 

 indifferent person. The mere sight of suffering, independ- 

 ently of love, would suffice to call up in us vivid recollec- 

 tions and associations. The explanation may lie in the fact 

 that, with all animals, sympathy is direbted solely toward 

 the members of the same community, and therefore toward 

 known and more or less beloved members, but not to all 

 the individuals of the same species. This fact is not more 

 surprising than that the fears of many animals should be 

 directed against special enemies. Species which are not 

 social, such as lions and tigers, no doubt feel sympathy for 

 the suffering of their own young, but not for that of any 

 other animal. With mankind, selfishness, experience, and 

 imitation probably add, as Mr. Bain has shown, to the power 

 of sympathy, for we are led by the hope of receiving good 

 in return to perform acts of sympathetic kindness to othe^; 

 and sympathy is much strengthened by habit. In however 

 complex a manner this feeling may have originated, as it is 

 one of high importance to all those animals which aid and 

 defend one another, it will have been increased through 

 natural selection ; for those communities which included the 

 greatest number of the most sympathetic members would 

 flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring. 



It is, however, impossible to decide in many cases 

 whether certain social instincts have been acquired through 

 natural selection, or are the indirect result of other instincts 

 and faculties, such as sympathy, reason, experience, and a 

 tendency to imitation ; or again, whether they are simply the 

 result of long-continued habit. So remarkable an instinct 

 as the placing sentinels to warn the community of danger 

 can hardly have been the indirect result of any of these 

 faculties; it must, therefore, have been directly acquired. 

 On the other hand, the habit followed by the males of some 

 social animals of defending the community, and of attacking 

 their enemies or their prey in concert, may perhaps have 

 originated from mutual sympathy; but courage, and in most 



