82 
THE DESCENT OF MAN. 
Part I. 
sight of suffering, independently of love, would suffice 
to call up in us vivid recollections and associations. 
Sympathy may at first have originated in the manner 
above suggested; but it seems now to have become 
an instinct, which is especially directed towards be- 
loved objects, in the same manner as fear with ani- 
mals is especially directed against certain enemies. As 
sympathy is thus directed, the mutual love of the 
members of the same community will extend its limits. 
No doubt a tiger or lion feels sympathy for the suffer- 
ings of its own young, but not for any other animal. 
With strictly social animals the feeling will be more 
or less extended to all the associated members, as we 
know to be the case. With mankind selfishness, expe- 
rience, and imitation probably add, as Mr. Bain has 
shewn, to the power of sympathy; for we are led 
by the hope of receiving good in return to perform 
acts of sympathetic kindness to others ; and there can 
be no doubt that the feeling of 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 
each other, 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. 
In many cases it is impossible to decide whether 
certain social instincts have been acquired through 
natural selection, or are the indirect result of other 
instincts and faculties, such as sympathy, reason, expe- 
rience, 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 
