chaotic, unpredictable, and unstable. It is only through
the systematic organization of the emotional dispositions in sentiments
that the volitional control of the immediate promptings of the emotions
is rendered possible. Again, our judgments of value and of merit are
rooted in our sentiments; and our moral principles have the same source,
for they are formed by our judgments of moral value.

The sentiments may be classified according to the nature of their
objects; they then fall into three main classes: the concrete
particular, the concrete general, and the abstract sentiments--e.g., the
sentiment of love for a child, of love for children in general, of love
for justice or virtue. Their development in the individual follows this
order, the concrete particular sentiments being, of course, the earliest
and most easily acquired. The number of sentiments a man may acquire,
reckoned according to the number of objects in which they are centered,
may, of course, be very large; but almost every man has a small number
of sentiments--perhaps one only--that greatly surpass all the rest in
strength and as regards the proportion of his conduct that springs from
them.

Each sentiment has a life-history, like every other vital organization.
It is gradually built up, increasing in complexity and strength and may
continue to grow indefinitely, or may enter upon a period of decline,
and may decay slowly or rapidly, partially or completely.

When any one of the emotions is strongly or repeatedly excited by a
particular object, there is formed the rudiment of a sentiment. Suppose
that a child is thrown into the company of some person given to frequent
outbursts of violent anger, say, a violent-tempered father who is
otherwise indifferent to the child and takes no further notice of him
than to threaten, scold, and, perhaps, beat him. At first the child
experiences fear at each exhibition of violence, but repetition of these
incidents very soon creates the habit of fear, and in the presence of
his father, even in his mildest moods, the child is timorous; that is to
say, the mere presence of the father throws the child's fear-disposition
into a condition of sub-excitement, which increases on the slightest
occasion until it produces all the subjective and objective
manifestations of fear. As a further stage, the mere idea of the father
becomes capable of producing the same effects as his presence; this idea
has become associated with the