The power of public opinion arises out of the original and
instinctive desire of man for the approval of his fellows. We
call this desire an original and instinctive one. It is true that
the infant may associate the frown of parent or nurse with the
physical pain of a blow. He may at first associate the smile
with the gift of some delicacy and so seem to give us only the
phenomenon of the brute that "loves the hand that feeds
him." This is because he can comprehend the material good
before he can understand the other. As soon as he has developed
sufiScient intelligence to distinguish the approval from the dis-
approval of his fellows, to know when father, mother, brother,
sister, teacher, or playfellow are pleased and when displeased,
that soon does he recognize that approval as a good and that
displeasure as an evil; and this severed from all relation to
physical consequences. Apart from all hope of reward or
fear of punishment he does regard the approval of his fellow
as a good to be sought and his disapproval as an evil to be
shunned.
