The Hum of the Beetle is beautiful on a fine summer evening, as appearing to suit the stillness and repose of that pleasing season. The Twitter of the Swallow is beautiful in the morning, and seems to be expressive of the cheerfulness of that time. A similar illustration can be derived from Colours and appearances to the eye.' The impressive emotion roused by the discharge of thunder can be evoked by the transient flash in the window, an effect in itself very trivial, but able to recall the grander features of the phenomenon, and through these the emotion of the Sublime. The relics of a storm, seen in the disorder and wreck, revive the feeling impressed by the height of its fury. The language that describes such phenomena, when aptly used, can arouse the emotions purely by the force of association. Alison extends the illustration of his doctrine to Forms and Motions, as well as sounds and colours, and supplies examples in great abundance under all these heads. I believe he has here too, in many instances, put forward intrinsic effects as the effects of association; but, nevertheless, he has put it beyond dispute, that the associating principle operates largely in clothing indifferent objects with a power to raise motion in the mind of the beholder. There is, I am satisfied, a primitive influence in form to produce a certain amount of emotion, of the kind that enters into the compositions of Art. Curved forms and winding movements yield, of themselves, a certain satisfaction through the muscular sensibility of the eye. Yet we must add to this original impressiveness an influence of association; namely, the connexion of Ease and abandon with the curve line, and of Constraint with the straight line. The free natural movements of the arm make circular figures; to draw a straight line requires an effort. In everything of the nature of a Tool or a Machine, there are certain appearances that are pleasing to behold, as suggesting Fitness and Ease in their application to the end. A clear polish upon steel has this effect, while rust is painful from the suggestion of a harsh grating action. So the MEANING OF EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION. 407 absence of noise, in the working of a machine, gives us the agreeable feeling of smooth, easy action. 50. The Reading of Emotional Expression.-An interesting case of associated feeling is our being able to interpret the signs of feeling in our fellow-beings, by which we are not merely made aware of their state of mind, but also derive a large amount of painful and pleasurable feeling to ourselves. The influence of the smile or the frown, so powerful in human life, is purely an associated influence. There is nothing intrinsic in the lines and forms of feature, displayed in the act of smiling, to cause the pleasure occasioned by this manifestation. Incidentally, fine forms and curves may be produced in a face, and there may be a display of beautiful tints over and above, but when these things occur they constitute an additional pleasure. The meaning of a smile, together with the susceptibility to the cheering influence of it, are learnt among the early acquisitions of infancy. The child observes that this expression accompanies the substantial pleasures that need no association to give them the'r character. The smile of the parent, or of the nurse, means all the agreeables of food, dress, play, spectacle, excitement, society. The frown is as invariably connected with privation and pains. An enduring associa tion thus obtains between one cast of features and all the good things of life, and between another expression and the ills that human power can inflict; and hence the one is able to diffuse a gladdening influence, while the other tends to excite a feeling of depression and gloom. All through life we are subject to these influences of associated emotion. So, there are tones of voice that, in the same way, can cause pleasure or pain by a power of suggestion. In this case, however, there is a certain intrinsic efficacy in the tones usually adopted to convey the intended effect. For conveying love and approbation, we choose our soft and gentle tones; for the opposite, we are led, both by passion and by choice, to use tones that are painful and grating. There is no original or intrinsic difference of effect between pleased and angry features, but, in vocal utterance, there is a manifest suitability of some tones for pleasing expression, and of others for the reverse. It is a part of our pleasures to see happy beings around us, and especially those that have the power of expressing their feelings in a lively manner. Children and animals, in their happy moods, impart a certain tone of gaiety to a spectator. On the other hand, the wretched, the downcast, and the querulous, are apt to chill and depress those in their company. There is a satisfaction in merely beholding, or even in imagining, the appearances and accompaniments of superior happiness, which probably accounts in part for the disposition to do homage to the wealthy, the powerful, the renowned, and the successful among mankind. Associated emotion is the medium of sympathy with the feelings of others. We have to acquire the signs of feeling, in order to make the states of others our own. We learn the natural appearances of the different emotions, and also the names that describe them, which appearances and names are the medium for realizing them. As in all else, there are great individual differences of progress in this acquirement, and corresponding differences in the power of sympathy. Among the associations of Feeling, we should not omit the important sentiments of moral approbation and moral disapprobation. These are admitted on all hands to be greatly the result of education; indeed, the fact is too notorious to be controverted. The well-trained child constantly finds certain acts spoken of with marked disapprobation, and visited with pain, which gives to disapprobation its meaning; and there grows up, as a consequence, a strong association between those actions and the feelings of dread and aversion. A high motive power is thus generated for abstaining from lying, theft, cruelty, neglect of studies, and other forbidden acts. This is one side of our moral education. The other side is, in like manner, a series of associations between certain actions and praise, approval, or reward; MORAL APPROBATION AND DISAPPROBATION. 409 and these determine the acquired sentiment of moral approbation. How little of either of the two modes is to be found where nothing has been done to impress them, is best known to those that concern themselves with the outcasts of society. The rate of advancement in moral training depends on several circumstances. In the first place, the energy of the impulses that trespass against the laws of society may be strong, or they may be weak, by nature. But, secondly, a still greater importance is to be attached to the aptitude for vividly retaining the penalties, and expressed disapprobation, of wrong. This memory for good and evil appears to be a special, or local, mode of retentiveness, as much so as colour or music; it does not always accompany high intellect generally, and it is occasionally strong, when the power of recollection in other things is weak. It belongs, no doubt, to the same circle of sensibilities that includes our prudential and our sympathetic regards. For both prudence and sympathy must concur to a well developed moral sense. There are many of our strong likings on the one hand, and strong antipathies on the other, that come under the class of reflected influences. The sight of blood affects some persons to fainting, which cannot be owing to anything in the mere appearance of it; apart from association, the rich scarlet hue would make this a really agreeable object to the eye. ASSOCIATIONS OF VOLITION. 51. I have already adverted to the mistake, committed by Reid, in pronouncing the voluntary command of our limbs and other moving organs instinctive. If we observe the movements of infancy, we see plainly that, for many months, there is no such thing as a command of the active members, in obedience to an aim or purpose present to the mind. An infant may have sufficient intelligence to form a wish, and be quite unable to execute the simplest movements for attaining the thing wished. A common example of this is the attempt to seize something with the hand, as a spoon; we see the most awkward movements occurring, evidently from the entire want of any definite direction of the limbs at that stage. This definite direction is acquired; and the acquisition is the most laborious and difficult of all human attainments. The performance of the simple movements that we wish to perform, is the basis of our acquirement of more complex movements at a subsequent stage; but our first education is self-education. Until a child can, of its own accord, put out its hand and seize an object before its eyes, which for the first few months it cannot do, any attempt to direct it is in vain; and, until, of its own accord, it can move its own body as it sees something else moved, it has not begun to be an educable being. The voluntary command of the organs implies the following things. 1st, The power of continuing or abuting a present movement in obedience to a present feeling, as when the child sucks while the appetite is gratified, and ceases when satiety comes on. We have referred this to a primary law of the animal organization, namely, that pleasures are accompanied with an increase, and pains with a diminution, of the vital energies. So far, Volition is an Instinct. 2ndly, The power of selecting a movement in order to heighten or abate a present feeling, as when the child directs its head and mouth to seize the nipple, and begins sucking. There may be a few instances of instinctive movements of this kind, but in general they are acquired, being determined by means of association. The coincidence of the movement and the feeling must be at first accidental; the movement springing up of its own accord, and finding itself able to control the feeling, the two become after a time so firmly connected that the one suggests the other. Thus the movement of the eyes and head is at first spontaneous, but the agreeable feelings of light brought on by these movements prompt their continuance, and the pleasure grows to be associated with these movements; whereupon, when this feeling is present to the mind |