The caracal lies on a shelf in its den in the Zoological Gardens quietly
licking its fur. I go up and stand near it. It makes a face at me. I
come a little nearer. It makes a worse face and raises itself up on its
haunches. I stand and look. It jumps down from its shelf and makes as
if it intended to go for me. I move back. The caracal has exerted a
moral influence over me which I have been unable to resist.
Moral influence means persuading another that one can make that other
more uncomfortable than that other can make oneself.