ABSTRACT
I have mentioned pity as a compound of tender emotion and sympathy; and moral indignation, as a compound of tender emotion and anger. These are examples of compound emotions— emotions which become possible with the higher development of the brain. A fusion of impulses is here implied, and for this fusion the association areas of the brain must be highly developed. The possibility of forming such compounds is generally and necessarily lacking in early childhood, as it is almost invariably, also, in the feeble-minded and in animals. The weak-minded mother alternates her emotions, she can not fuse them; she beats her child viciously one moment, and hugs it affectionately the next. This a matter which must be kept always in mind in our dealings with children and with the feeble-minded, and—dare I add?—with the masses. From them we must be content to receive simple responses; we must not expect the more elaborate complexes possible to the highly developed.
