THE FUNCTION OF EELIGIOUS EXPBESSION. 183 produced by the very varied expressions of religious feeling. Such a study I could not attempt to make in a single article, even in outline, were it not that the many forms of religious expression naturally fall into a few groups which we may find space to consider briefly. I shall attempt in the case of each group to show that the persistence of these special activities cannot be explained on the ground that they either appear to be or are in fact of individualistic advantage, nor on the ground that they tend to advantage in relation to the processes governing the re- production of kind. On the other hand I think it will appear that they do serve to emphasise the order of impulse efficiency already referred to, bringing into prominence the social impulses and tending thus to produce persistence of the higher social types. We are able then to account for their persistence in our race ; for, as we have seen, it is advantageous to us to emphasise the social instincts which make possible the existence of these social types ; for these social instincts could not have arisen in us unless the actions they induce were of advantage, indirectly at least, in the maintenance of the life of the indi- viduals and species in which they appear. 2. It will serve our purpose best at the start to say a few words concerning the form in which this emphasis of the later formed instincts would present itself to consciousness. If the argument which has preceded this be correct, if the later formed instincts relating to social life are effective rather through the wide general trend of the activities they induce than through the forcefulness or quickness of reaction to the stimuli which call them out, then it seems clear that they will not be likely to force themselves upon our atten- tion as the impulses of individualistic significance, and those relating to reproduction, will surely do ; for these latter are called into existence by presentations of forceful nature and must in a large proportion of cases function promptly if they are to be of service. But where, for any reason, stimulation to individualistic reaction is absent, and where the instincts relating to re- production are not called out, then the tendency to act in accord with the trend determined by the social instincts must necessarily become more prominent and the ethical impulses must sway our lives. Now the primitive man in whom these social instincts are beginning to develop will with difficulty have his attention turned to the existence of the impulses they determine
