77 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



humble emotion. The instructive work of the Italian, M. Mosso, 

 gives an excellent physiological study of the physical phenomena of 

 fear, but is almost the only treatise that bears on the subject. It is 

 our purpose to look at it from the point of view of general psychology, 

 and of the relations of man with animals ; and to inquire into the 

 effects and causes of fear among all beings capable of feeling it. 



We have, first, to describe the signs of fear and the physical phe- 

 nomena that accompany it. With man, the testimony of his own 

 consciousness is sufficient. With him fear may be wholly internal and 

 translated by no apparent sign ; but he can also afterward give ac- 

 count of his experiences. With animals the case is different. Their 

 only language is their attitude. Our only resource for discovering 

 the emotions by which they may be stirred is by the exterior signs 

 they may give of them ; and then we can only draw our conclusions 

 by analogy. My horse all at once raises his head, droops his ears, 

 shies, and starts on a gallop. There was a white cloth before him, 

 and I conclude that he was afraid of it. Have I any right to draw 

 such a conclusion ? To affirm it with certainty in every particular, I 

 would have to use a vulgar expression to be in his skin ; for what 

 I saw does not rigorously prove that my horse had a feeling identical 

 with the one I am acquainted with from having suffered it myself, and 

 which I call fear. Still, I have every reason for believing that the 

 horse's feeling is of the same kind ; for his attitude is the same when 

 it thunders or when he hears a violent detonation, things which pro- 

 voke fear in man ; moreover, various other quadrupeds assume nearly 

 the same attitudes when they are surprised by an unexpected object. 



When we come to the lower animals it is extremely difficult to de- 

 termine the operation of fear among them. When frogs hastily leap 

 into the water and swim for their holes at the passing of any ani- 

 mal along the edge of the marsh, is it fear that has moved them ? 

 Yery likely, although their physiognomy has not changed for they 

 have none and we are not able to pass any judgment with regard to 

 the phenomena of consciousness they may have experienced. We all 

 agree that something has affected them that resembles fear in man. 



Fear acts in two ways. At times it paralyzes and makes motion- 

 less ; at other times it excites and gives extraordinary strength. One 

 person overcome by it remains fastened to the spot, pale and inert ; 

 his legs give way, and all his forces fail him. Another person scam- 

 pers away like a rabbit. Fear gives him wings, and he abandons his 

 unhappy companion, who is not able to move, while he has already 

 put himself out of danger. At the same time special physical phe- 

 nomena are manifested, which can not be described better than in the 

 language of the poets and the common people. The hair stands out 

 on the head ; the body is seized with trembling and with a general 

 shiver, and the teeth chatter so that they can be heard. The hands 

 shake so that they can not grasp anything ; the legs give way ; a 



