A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF FEAR. 773 



profuse, cold, clammy perspiration covers the body ; the skin feels 

 shivering, and the hair-bulbs over it swell up and harden. A convul- 

 sive thrill, with a feeling of cold, runs down the body, from the nape 

 to the toe, coursing along the back at intervals like a cold electric 

 wave. The face grows pale, and the heart beats violently, as if it 

 would burst out of the chest ; or else, perhaps, it almost stops, pro- 

 ducing a feeling of indescribable distress. The pupils dilate, the eyes 

 open wide, and the features assume a repulsive aspect, which has been 

 well represented by the great painters. The voice sticks in the throat, 

 and the victim of the emotion is speechless. These are the manifesta- 

 tions of fear in one of its highest forms. They are less evident in 

 moderate fear, according as it is moderate ; while the most intense 

 degree of emotion produces syncope, or arrest of the movements of 

 the heart. 



The syncope is rarely prolonged till death ensues ; but well-authen- 

 ticated cases are on record in which death has resulted immediately, 

 while simple syncope is quite frequent. Most of the physical effects 

 of fear, in fact, the pale face, the general weakness and paralysis, the 

 buzzing in the ears, and the vertigos, are symptoms of syncope ; and 

 when they accompany sudden fright they are probably less due di- 

 rectly to the fright itself than to the arrest of the movements of the 

 heart which it provokes. This profound emotion of fear, with its 

 accompaniment of violent external phenomena, is fatal and involun- 

 tary, and is a reflex action, provoked by an irresistible force, inde- 

 pendent of ourselves. 



Besides the physical reflex actions, well known to physiologists and 

 often described, I have defined a class of psychical reflex actions. 

 Ordinary reflex actions, like the contraction and enlargement of the 

 pupil under varying intensities of light, are dependent on the most 

 simple excitations and require no intelligence, comprehension, or 

 mental elaboration. Other reflex actions are of a different character. 

 They are reflex, in that they are involuntary ; and conscious, in that we 

 can give a complete account of them ; but they are also psychical, in 

 that a considerable degree of intelligence is required for them to occur. 

 Take, for example, the simple instance of the soldier who dodges when 

 he Jiears a bullet whistling near him. The motion is entirely reflex, 

 for the poor fellow has dodged before he has even thought of the ball 

 that might hit him ; but it is also conscious and psychical. A number 

 of analogous actions might be cited ; and if we give the subject a lit- 

 tle attention we shall find that they play an important part in our every- 

 day life. The conscious moral emotion and the exterior movement 

 accompanying it are caused by a sensible excitation which in itself is 

 nothing, but is transformed by the mind so as to become effective. 

 The whistling of a bullet as a mere noise would not cause one to 

 dodge. It is a noise which, in itself, is quite incapable of provoking 

 such a movement. If, then, the soldier dodges so abruptly, it is be- 



