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is declaring the individual an outlaw, withdrawing the barriers of a flood always ready to overflow, opening a battery constantly charged, whence only one result can ensue. The protection that habitually surrounds a man, but for which he might be at any time a victim of the sport of every other man, is for the moment removed when he is the cause of pain to some one, and he is liable to the uncounteracted swing of the excitement of inflicting suffering, and the sentiment of power in the person aggrieved. I am prevented by the humane side of my nature, and by my sense of duty, from kicking a dog that passes by; an effect which would, doubtless, gratify other feelings in me. But if the animal bites, or barks at me, the pain and apprehension tend to destroy my tender feeling towards it, and suspend my sense of its rights as a sentient being, and I am thereupon prompted to repay myself for the suffering by a glut of the pleasure of inflicting pain. I might even go farther, and use the occasion as a pretext for deriving far more pleasure than was equivalent to the pain; but this would be to exceed the measure of ordinary human exigency, which is to seek an amount of gratified superiority corresponding to the suffering received.

A third circumstance is the association of preventing farther pain to ourselves by inducing fear of us, or of consequences, in the person causing the pain. There is always a great satisfaction in being relieved from the incubus of terror, one of the most depressing agencies that human life is subject to. Many minds that neither boil up in savage excitement, nor take especial delight in manifested superiority, are yet very much alive to this sort of satisfaction, it being only the rebound consequent on deliverance from oppressing apprebensions.

These three considerations are all that I can find at the bottom of the irascible sentiment considered as a source of pleasurable indulgence. One of them will be the prominent circumstance in one person, and another in a second; but taken altogether they seem to me to amount to an explanation, so far complete as to dispense with assuming an inde

ANGER IN THE LOWER ANIMALS.

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pendent foundation in our constitution for this peculiar vein of emotion.*

5. The volitional, intellectual, and mixed qualities of the irascible emotion merely illustrate farther the degree of hold that it takes of the mind as a source of pleasure. The intellectual persistence is probably of that medium kind that distinguishes the stronger emotions from the organic feelings on the one hand, and from the sensations of the higher senses on the other. Only in natures specially prone to the state, or under special cultivation, can pure resentment become a standing pursuit for the mere sake of the pleasure. So int the attributes of occupying the attentions and thoughts, and of influencing the belief, we may consider that there is a tolerably close proportion to the general intensity of the feeling. In the detail of species that we are next to enter upon, the generalities now advanced will receive their exemplification.

6. The recognised modes of the operation of Anger are very various, and some of them are not pure instances of the passion. I shall commence with the Lower Animals, many of whom exhibit in a marked form what passes for violent irascibility. The beasts of prey destroy and devour their victims with all the outward symptoms of a furious wrath. Even herbivorous animals, as the bull and the stag, fight to the death the members of their own tribe. The poisonous reptiles and insects discharge their venom on whatever creature encounters them. But in none of all those cases am I able to recognise anything beyond the putting forth of the

*The advocate of the hypothesis of evolution might suggest that the irascible outburst in civilized man is a counterpart of the destructive propensities essential, in an earlier stage, to the struggle for existence. To the phrenologists also, Destructiveness still appears the appropriate heading of the sentiment, which shows that there is something to be said for that mode of viewing it. Still, I see nothing either in the evolution hypothesis, or in the phrenological examples, to make me depart from the view, prevailing alike in ancient and in modern times, that puts forward, as the central fact of anger, the pleasure of malevolent infliction. For a criticism of the phrenological handling of the passion, see The Study of Character, p. 79.

volitional energies of the animal under the stimulus of some sensation or feeling. There being, in the system, destructive weapons and an active temperament, the weapons are put in action at first spontaneously, and afterwards at the instance of the animal's various sensibilities, such as hunger and the like.

These powers are the active machinery proper to the constitution of the creature, and in the use of them no emotion is implied beyond the ordinary physical sensations and wants of the individual. In the more highly endowed quadrupeds such as the dog, some notion of personality is gained; and when we see the attacks that sexual jealousy will sometimes inspire, we may there suppose that the victorious animal has a certain pleasure beyond the mere getting rid of a rival by the exercise of a superior might. The animation of two fighting cocks has in it some of the genuine elements of rage,-the stimulated energies, and, on the part of the victorious animal, probably the sensual excitement, and the glut of power.

7. In the wrath of Infancy and Childhood, we may trace a gradual unfolding of the different features of the passion. In the first months of infant existence, pain gives birth to purely emotional displays, more or less energetic according to the intensity of the pains and the physical vigour of the constitution; after the commencement of volitional power, the voluntary action has a corresponding energy; but neither of the two modes can be termed anger. Another appearance that may be noted, is the effect of opposition or thwarting in adding to the violence of the demonstrations-a stimulating influence whose workings are especially apparent in childhood, being probably a mixture of reflex stimulus with volition proper. A somewhat different aspect is presented, when the irritated infant energetically refuses every proposal of the nature of a substitute for what it is bent upon. The proper feeling of Anger passes beyond all these; beginning only when the notion of another person's suffering is attained, and the signs of it understood; a state fully manifested at the

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age of from two to three years, at which period genuine sympathy may also commence.

8. The varieties of the emotion in mature life turn in part upon the various character of the pain, hurt, or injury constituting the original stimulus. There are wrongs inflicted on the person, on the property, on the reputation, on the sympathetic. relationships, and in other ways. Sometimes the injury is confined to a single act, at other times a door is opened to an indefinite series of wrongs. Moreover the view taken of the intention of the offending party has very much to do with the feeling engendered. An unintended harm is easily satisfied as far as moral reparation is concerned; whereas the indications of a set purpose of doing us evil, stir up our resentment to the depths. The forms of angry feeling differ greatly among individuals and races, and are modified by civilization and historic changes. Out of all these possible differences we shall select for illustration some of the wellrecognised species, such as have received characteristic designations.

And first, of the distinction between Sudden and Deliberate resentment.

The Sudden outburst is what arises from an unexpected blow or shock, and depends on the excitability of the constitution. Some temperaments are described as quick, meaning that the operation of all the passions and movements is rapid. Not only anger, but fear, wonder, and all other passions, as well as the voluntary impulses, are propagated with energy and speed in such temperaments. The term nervous is applied to characterize the same mode of mental discharge, from the supposition that the nerves by their superior susceptibility are somehow involved in the effect. The aspect of the angry feeling, when suddenly aroused, corresponds to the more. natural, that is, the more deeply ingrained, impulses of the individual. When we are abruptly forced into action of any kind, both the original instincts and the confirmed habits show themselves without disguise. In such a case, too, the prompting arises solely from the actual blow, and excludes all

reference to circumstances or collaterals. Hence sudden resentment is very apt to be excessive as well as hasty, from which circumstance arises the principal evil attaching to it. In the complicated relations of life, instantaneous decisions must often be bad, and the hurried impulses of a sudden resentment only furnish matter for repentance. Nevertheless the equanimity of the temper is, as already remarked, especially liable to be disturbed by anything either acute or sudden; the preventive volition, the flow of bitterness from violated personality, and the temper of retaliation, are roused into a vehement gush, aggravated in intensity when the temperament is quick or nervous. Thus, while on the one hand, these sudden impulses stand in need of the check of a promptly summoned resolution from within, let all men beware of needlessly provoking them from without.

9. Under Deliberate anger we might include a wide range of illustration. Implying, as this does, a consideration of all the circumstances attending the original injury, as well as all the consequences of retaliation, we may consider it the generic name for the passion as displayed in cultivated minds, and among civilized communities. It gives room for the introduction of some principle of procedure, such as a rule of justice, the dictates of religion, or the received maxims of society. The punishment of offenders, and the maintenance of discipline, belong to this head. We shall speak of these. presently.

The term Revenge expresses the angry passion carried to the full length of retaliation. The need of inflicting pain for appeasing the offended person is strongly suggested by this designation. Where the passion exists in great force, the spirit of revenge is sure to display itself, being in fact the course of conduct whereby anger is attested. Where an injury of great magnitude has been committed-or where the magnitude is simply imagined, and when the wounded personality is difficult to be satisfied-we are accustomed to see the workings of a retaliation that knows no bounds. The implacable temper is exemplified on the widest scale in past

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