Produced by Julia Miller, Carol Brown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS A BOOK OF STUDIES AND STROWINGS BY DANIEL G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D. AUTHOR OF “RACES AND PEOPLES,” “THE MYTHS OF THE NEW WORLD,” “ESSAYS OF AN AMERICANIST,” ETC., ETC. PHILADELPHIA DAVID MCKAY, PUBLISHER NO. 23 SOUTH NINTH STREET 1893 COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY D. G. BRINTON. WM. F. FELL & CO., ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS 1220-24 SANSOM ST., PHILADELPHIA. TO THE HON. GEORGE PIERCE ANDREWS, JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, This Book is Inscribed, IN MEMORY OF A FRIENDSHIP WHICH HAS CONTINUED UNINTERRUPTED SINCE OUR EARLIEST COLLEGE DAYS. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,――that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.”――_The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America._ “The sun and stars that float in the open air, The apple-shaped earth and we upon it, surely the drift of them is something grand, I do not know what it is except that it is something grand, and that it is Happiness.” _――Walt Whitman._ CONTENTS. PART I. Happiness as the Aim of Life. I. _Is a Guide to Happiness Possible? And if Possible, is it Desirable?_ Objections to the Pursuit of Happiness as a Low and Selfish Aim.――Answered by the Fact that we Cannot do Otherwise than Pursue it.――Enjoyment is not a Sin, but a Duty.――No One Can Impart Happiness who does not Possess it Himself.――It is Desirable, therefore, that Men be Taught How to become Happy.――Nor is this a Commendation of Selfishness, pp. 9-14 II. _The Definition of Happiness._ Happiness is not Pleasure, but is Built Upon it.――Explanation of Pleasure and Pain in Sensation.――Happiness Dependent on the Will and Self-consciousness.――Difference Between Self-feeling and Self-seeking.――Happiness is the Increasing Consciousness of Self.――It may be Derived from Other than Pleasurable Feelings.――The Yearning for Joy is a Cry of Nature.――It is the Secret of Evolution, pp. 15-20 III. _The Relative Value of Pleasures._