THE DESCENT OR ORIGIN- OF MAN 155 



througli lier mind, of her young ones perishing in the bleak 

 north from cold and hunger. 



y^ At the moment of action man will no doubt be apt to 

 follow the stronger impulse; and though this may occasion- 

 ally prompt him to the noblest deeds, it will more commonly 

 lead him to gratify his own desires at the expense of other 

 men. But after their gratification, when past and weaker 

 impressions are judged by the eyer-enduring social instinct, 

 and by his deep regard for the good opinion of his fellows, 

 retribution will surely come. He will then feel remorse, 

 repentance, regret, or shame; this latter feeling, however, 

 relates almost exclusively to the judgment of others. He 

 will consequently resolve more or less firmly to act differ- 

 ently for the future ; and this is conscience; for conscience 

 looks backward, and serves as a guide for the future. 



The nature and strength of the feelings which we call 

 regret, shame, repentance, or remorse, depend apparently 

 not only on the strength of the violated instinct, but partly 

 on the strength of the temptation, and often still more on 

 the judgment of our fellows. How far each man values the 

 appreciation of others, depends on the strength of his innate 

 or acquired feeling of sympathy, and on his own capacity 

 for reasoning out the remote consequences of his acts. An- 

 other element is most important, although not necessary — the 

 reverence or fear of the Gods or Spirits believed in by each 

 man ; and this applies especially in cases of remorse. Sev- 

 eral critics have objected that, though some slight regret or 

 repentance may be explained by the view advocated in this 

 chapter, it is impossible thus to account for the soul-shaking 

 feeling of remorse. But I can see little force in this objec- 

 tion. My critics do not define what they mean by remorse, 

 and I can find no definition implying more than an over- 

 whelming sense of repentance. Eemorse seems to bear the 

 same relation to repentance as rage does to anger, or agony 

 to pain. It is far from strange that an instinct so strong and 

 so generally admired as maternal love should, if disobeyed, 

 lead to the deepest misery, as soon as the impression of the 



