OCR Text |
Show 70 TTIE PRINCIPT~E OF rrHE DIRECT CHAP. lll. lips are r tra ted, with th teeth clenched or gro~1:d together. There is said to be "gnashin~ of. teeth Ill hell; and I have plainly heard t~e .grin(hng of the 111ola1• t ,eth of a cow which was suffering acutely frmn inflam1nation of the bowels. The female hippopotau1us iu th Zoological Gardens, when she produced her young, suffered greatly; she incessant:y wallc~d about, or rolled on her sides) opening and closing her .JRWS, and clatterino- her teeth together.4. '\Vith man the eyes tare wildly as in horrified astonishn1ent, or the Lrows n.r<j heavily contracted. Perspiration bat~1es th? body, and drops trickle down the face. The circulati~n and respiration are 1nuch affected. Hence the nostrils aro generally dilated and often quiver;. or the breath 1nay be held until the blood. stagnates 1n the purple face. If the agony be severe and prolonge~, th~se. signR all change; utter prostration follows, w1th fainting or convulsions. A sensitive nerve when irritated transn1its some influence to the nerve-cell, whence it proceeds; and this trans1nits its influence, first to the corresponding nerve-cell on the opposite side of the body, and then upwards and downwards along the cerebro-spinal column to other nerve-cells, to a greater or less extent, according to the strength of the excitement; so that, ulti1nately, the whole nervous system 1nay be affected.5 This involuntary transmission of nerve-force 1nay or n1ay not be accompanied by consciousness. vVhy the irritation of a nerve-cell should generate or liberate nerve- 4 Mr. Bartlett, "Notes on the Birth of a Hippopotamus," Proe. Zoolog. Soc. 1871, p. 255. 5 See, on this subject, Claude Bernard, 'Tissus Vivants,' 186o, pp. R16, 337, 358. Virchow expresses himself to almost exactly the snme effect in his essay ''Ueber das :fl.iickenmark " (Sa~mlung wi~senscht~Jt, Vortrago7 l871, s, 28.). C11 AP. rrr. 7t ff)l'£~8 j~ not known ; lm t, that th i:-:; i:-: the ('U.~c\ Rf\ m~ to b~ th: r·oneluHion arri vr<l nt Ly all the gr at :-:t phy~nologJ HtR, sneh fiR l\[ii.ller, Vjrchow, Bernard, &P.o j\_g Mr. Ilerbert ~pencet· rcnuarks, it Iuay ue roc iY d ~,L~ an "unquestionabl truth that, at any Inoinent the " existing quantity of liberated nerve-force, which in " an inscrutable way produces in us the state we call " feeling, 1n~~st expend itself in Ron1e direction-n~ust '; generate an equivalent 1nanifestation of foree some" where;" RO that, when the cerebro-spinal Rystem is highly excited and nerve-force is liberated i~1 excess, it 1nay be expended in intense sensations, active thought, violent n1ovements, or increased activity of the glands. 7 Mr. Spencer fnrther 1naintains that an " overflow of nerve-force, undirected by any n1oti \70, " 'vill lUanifestly take the lllOSt habitual routes; anJ, if " these do not Ruffice, will next overflow into the leR~ " habitual oneR." Consequently the facial und respira· tory muscles, whieh are the 1nost used, will bo apt to be first brought into action; then those of the upper extremities, next those of the lowor, and finally those of the whole body.R An emotion may be very strong, but it will have little tendency to induce moven1ents of nny kind, if it has not conu11only led to voluntary action ior its relief or gratification; and when 1novements are excited their ' ' 11 Miiller ('Elements of Physiology,' Eng. transJat. yo]. ii. p. 932) in speaking of the nerves, says, " any sudden change of condition of ''whatever kind sets the nervou~ principle into action." See Virchow nnd Bernard on tho samo subject in passage-3 in tho, two works refen cl to in my last foot-note. · 7 H. Spencer, 'Bssays, Scientific, Political,' &c., Second Series, 1863, pp. 109: 111. 8 Sie H. Holland, in speaking (' Medical Notes and Reflexions,' 1839, .P· 328) of that curious state of body called the fidgets, remarks ~hat .1t ,seems due to " au accumulation of some c~l!Se of irritatio:q ' wh~ch re1uires lUUSCl~lar actioq for Hs rrlirf .. , |