THE LANGUAGE OF THE EMOTION'S. 817 



a breath, or a slight motion of the pot made them droop. Those 

 plants wbich had a third or two thirds of vegetable mold were still 

 irritable, but in a less degree, and would not bloom. Those which had 

 pure vegetable earth became robust and nearly insensitive ; striking 

 their leaves with a stick, would make them double up, but they would 

 unfold again almost in an instant. 



Besides the general excitation of the cerebral centers, the gangli- 

 onic nerves, the circulation, and nutrition, emotion produces a general 

 excitation of the motor nerves and the muscles. According to Mr. 

 Spencer, the excitation of the muscular system should be proportional 

 to the intensity of the feeling, whatever may be its character in other 

 respects ; a great joy, like a great grief, should move the whole body. 

 Moreover, Mr. Spencer adds, the force of the passion affects the mus- 

 cles in the inverse ratio of their size and of the weight of the parts 

 to which they are attached. With the clog and cat, the mobility of 

 the tail makes it capable of furnishing, from its origin, the indication 

 of the rising feeling. The greater or less elevation of the tail is a 

 sign of pleasure ; its sidewise beatings, of uneasiness. With man, the 

 muscles of the face are relatively small and very mobile, and for this 

 reason the countenance is the best index of the degree of intensity in 

 feeling ; and the ear, motionless in man, is a marked organ of expres- 

 sion in the horse. 



The real defect of the theory expounded by Mr. Spencer is, that it 

 is too purely physiological ; it has not taken sufficient account of the 

 different effects produced according as the emotions are agreeable or 

 painful. According to his view, the energy of the feeling, whatever 

 may be its nature, is always manifested by an energy of movement. 

 We dance, he says, with joy, as we stamp with rage ; we can no more 

 keep still under moral distress than in the exaltation of delight ; there 

 are cries of anguish as well as notes of pleasure ; and frequently the 

 sounds uttered by children in their sports leave parents in doubt 

 whether vexation or pleasure is their motive. Granted ; yet these va- 

 rious manifestations of activity have a resemblance only in the eyes of 

 a distant or superficial spectator. It is hard to suppose that pleasure 

 and pain are primarily manifested by an identical general augmenta- 

 tion of activity. 



If the physiologists had considered the emotions in their psychologi- 

 cal elements, they would have been better able to account for their mani- 

 festations, and would not have involved themselves in an inextricable 

 confusion. In all passion there is first an intellectual element per- 

 ception or idea; next a sensible element pleasure or pain; and, 

 finally, a volitional element desire or aversion. We must, then, to 

 account completely for an expressive motion, seek first the sensitive 

 and mental state which it expresses ; second, the affective state ; and, 

 third, the corresponding attitude of the will. 



Some psychologists, with Herbart, have locked for the primary ori- 

 vol. xsxi. 52 



