Sympathy has been enormously written about In books on Ethics.a very good recent chapter is that by Thos.Fowler.
The Principles of Morals, part ii.chap.ff.
I must now refer to a very general passion which occurs in boys who are brought up naturally.especially in the country.
Everyone knows what pleasure a boy takes in the sight of a butterfly, fish, crab or other animal, or of a bird's nest, and what a strong propensity he has for pulling apart, breaking, opening, and destroying all complex objects, how he delights in pulling out the wings and legs of flies, and tormenting one animal or another, how greedy he is to steal secret dainties, with what irresistible strength the plundering of birds' nests attracts him without his banning the least intention of eating the eggs or the young birds.This fact has long been familiar, and is daily remarked by teachers;
but an explanation of these impulses which follow upon a mere perception of the objects, without in most cases any representation being aroused of a future pleasure to be gained, has as yet been given by no one, and yet the impulses are very easy to explain.In many cases it will be said that the boy pulls things apart from curiosity.Quite correct: but whence comes this curiosity, this irresistible desire to open everything and see what is inside? What makes the boy take the eggs from the nest and destroy them when he never thinks of eating them? These are effects of an hereditary instinct, so strong that warnings and punishments are unable to counteract it." (Schneider: Der Menschliche Wille, p.224.See also Der Thierische Wille, pp.180-2.)
It is not surprising, in view of the facts of animal history and evolution, that the very special object blood should have become the stimulus for a very special interest and excitement.That the sight of it should make people faint is strange.Less so that a child who sees his blood flow should forthwith become much more frightened than by the mere feeling of the cut.Horned cattle often, though not always, become furiously excited at the smell of blood.In some abnormal human beings the sight or thought of it exerts a baleful fascination." B and his father were at a neighbor's one evening, and, while paring apples, the old man accidentally cut his hand so severely as to cause the blood to flow profusely: B was observed to become restless, nervous, pale, and to have undergone a peculiar change in demeanor.Taking advantage of the distraction produced by the accident, B escaped from the house and proceeded to a neighboring farm-yard, where he cut the throat of a horse, killing it." Dr.D.H.Tuke, commenting on this man's case (Journal of Mental Science, October.1885), speaks of the influence of blood upon him -- his whole life had been one chain of cowardly atrocities -- and continues: " There can be no doubt that with some individuals it constitutes a fascination....
We might speak of a mania sanguinis.Dr.Savage admitted a man from France into Bethlehem Hospital some time ago, one of whose earliest symptoms of insanity was the thirst for blood, which he endeavored to satisfy by going to an abattoir in Paris.The man whose case I have brought forward had the same passion for gloating over blood, but had no attack of acute mania.The sight of blood was distinctly a delight to him, end at any time blood aroused in him the worst elements of his nature.Instances will easily be recalled in which murderers, undoubtedly insane, have described the intense pleasure they experienced in the warm blood of children.
Bombonnel, having rolled with a panther to the border of a ravine, gets his head away from the open mouth of the animal, and by a prodigious effort rolls her into the abyss.He gets up, blinded, spitting a mass of blood, not knowing exactly what the situation is.He thinks only of one thing, that he shall probably die of his wounds, but that before dying he must take vengeance on the panther.'I didn't think of my pain,' he tells us.Possessed entirely by the fury with which I was transported.I drew my hunting-knife, and not understanding what had become of the beast, I sought for her on every side in order to continue the struggle.
It was this plight that the arabs found me when they arrived."' (Quoted by Guyan, La Morale sans Obligation, etc., p.210.)
Psychologie de l'Enfant, pp.72-74.In an account of a young gorilla quoted from Falkenstein, by R.Hartmann ('Anthropoid Apes,' International Scientific Series, vol.iii (New York, 1886), p.265), it is said: "He very much disliked strange noises.Thunder, the rain falling on the skylight, and especially the long-drawn note of a pipe or trumpet, threw him into such agitation as to cause a sudden affection of the digestive organs, and it became expedient to keep him at a distance.When he was slightly indisposed, we made use of this kind of music with results as successful as we had administered purgative medicine."
Der Menschliche Wille, p.224.
Cf.Romanes.Mental Evolution, etc., p.156.
In the 'Overland Monthly' for 1887, a most interesting article on Laura Bridgman's writings has been published by Mr.E.C.Sandford among other reminiscences of her early childhood, while she still knew nothing of the sign-language, the wonderful blind deaf-mute records the following item in her quaint language:
"My father
used to enter his kitchen bringing some killed animals in and deposited them on one of sides of the room many times.As I perceived it it make me shudder with terror because I did not know what the matter was.I hated to approach the dead.One morning I went to take a short walk with my Mother.
I went into a snug house for some time.They took me into a room where there was a coin.I put my hand in the coffin & felt something so queer.
