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Show 304 HORROR. CHAP. XII. evidence, excepting in the one instance before given of an insane wo1nan snfferin~ from great fear. When writers of fiction speak of the eyes being widely dilated~ I presume that they refer to t~e. eyelids. Mnnro's statement 25 that with parrots the Iris JS affected by the passions,' independently of the amount of ligh.t, seen1s to bear on this question; but Professor Donders Informs me, that he ha~ often seen movements in the pupils of these birds which he thinks may be related to their power of accommodation to distance, in nearly the same manner as our own pupils contract when our eyes .converge ~or near vision. Gratiolet retnarks that the dilated pnpils appear as if they were gazing into profound darkneAs. No doubt the fears of man have often been excited in the dark; but hardly so often or so exclusively, as to account for a fixed and associated habit having thus arisen. It seems more probable, assuming that Gratiolet's statement is correct, that the brain is directly affected by the powerful etnotion of fear and reacts on the pupils ; but Professor Donders informs me that this is an extremely complicated subject. I may add, as possibly throwino- light on the subjAct, that Dr. Fyffe, of N etley Hospital, has observed in two patients that the pupils w·ere distinctly dilated during the cold stage of an ague .fit. Professor Donders has also often seen dilatation of the pupils in incipient faintness. , Horror.-The state of mind expressed by this term implies terror, and is in some cases almost syn~nymous with it. Many a man must have felt, before the blessed discovery of chloroform, great horror at the thought of an impending surgical operation .. He who dreads, as well as. hates a man, will feel, as 1\filton 25 As quoted in 'Vhite's ' Gradation in Man,' p. 57. CHAP. XII. HORROR. 305 uses the word, a horror of him. We feel horror if we I see any one, for in tance a child, expo ed to s m in tant and crn"'hing dano·er. Almo t every one would exp rience the arne :D elino- in the highest d gre in witnes - ing a man being tortured or going to be tortured. In these case~ there is no danger to ourselves; but from the power of the imagination and of sympathy we put ourselves in the position of the sufferer, and feel something akin to fear. Sir C. Bell remark ,26 that "horror is full of energy; " the body is in the utmost ten ion, not unnerved by " fear." It is, th .refore, probable that horror would generally be accompanied Ly the strong contraction of the brows; but as fear is one of the elements, the ey . and mouth would be opened, and the eyebrows wonld Le raised, as far as the antagonistic action of tl1e corrugators permitted this movement. Duchenne has given a photograph 27 (fig. 21) of the same old man as before, with his eyes somewhat staring, the eyebrows partially raised, and at the same time strongly contracted, the mouth opened, and the platysma in action, all effected by the means of galvanism. He considers that the expression thus produced shows extreme terror with horrible pain or torture. A tortured man, as long a. his sufferings allowed him to :D el any dread for the future, would probably exhibit horror in an extreme degree. I have shown the original of this photograph to twenty-three persons of both sexes and variou age ; and thirteen immediately answered horror, great paill, torture, or agony ; three answered extreme fright ; so that sixteen answered nearly in accordance with Duehenne's belief. Six, however, said anger, guided no 26 'Anatomy of Expre sion,' p. 169. 2 i 'Mecanisme rlc la Phy&iunomie/ Album, pl. 65, pp. 44, 45. X |