Finot discussed the instinctiveness of the fear of death. “The question,” he wrote, “is important. For if the fear be instinctive, it is independent of our will and not to be controlled by reason. It would then break out in every case at the approach of death. Now the evidence of many persons who have no more than escaped mortal danger is clearly against the view.”[153] Hunger is certainly instinctive, and yet is not always felt when the body is exhausted by want of food or menaced by death from starvation. Closer investigation leaves no doubt but that the fear of death is truly an instinct. In some of the higher animals it exhibits itself in the same fashion as other instincts. The intimate friend, whom I have already mentioned, was for years in constant expectation of death, and faced its approach with perfect calmness. Believing that he had played his part in life to the best of his power, not only did he think it quite natural that he should cease to live, but he regarded the possibility of a decrepid and painful old age with the greatest possible repugnance. In his case, neither reason nor desire led to a fear of death. When, however, it was definitely diagnosed that he suffered from a disease which might prove fatal, there was aroused in him a certain sensation which must have been the fear of death. Analysis of Tolstoi’s statements in his “Confessions” makes it clear that his sensations on reflecting that he too would cease to be, and that there would be left only corruption and worms, were no other than the instinctive fear of death, a fear that his reason was powerless to control. To follow Tolstoi in telling any one that the fear of death is a form of superstition which must be subdued by the intelligence, is no better than to attempt to console a woman about to undergo ovariotomy by telling her that as in future she will be unable to bear children she ought to subdue her sexual instincts. She will find out that her desire is not under control of the will but is a pure instinct. The fear of death has long been recognised as an instinct. Schopenhauer,[154] for instance, interpreted it in that way. According to him, “from the point of view of intelligence there is no ground for fearing death. Reason, which is the outcome of knowledge, does not present death to us as an evil. It is certainly not the rational, conscious part of ourselves which fears death; the _fuga mortis_ which pervades all living beings is an emanation of the blind will.” This “blind will” is no other than a pure instinct which is independent of our rational will. I need not pursue the subject, but I may recall that Lord Byron came to the conclusion that the fear of death is an instinctive manifestation of the soul. In “Cain” he expressed this view sufficiently clearly:—