474 INFLUENCE OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



often resorted to in India, for the discovery of a thief amongst the servants of 

 a family, that of compelling all the parties to hold a certain quantity of rice 

 in the mouth during a few minutes, the offender being generally distin- 

 guished by the comparative dryness of his mouthful, at the end of the ex- 

 periment. The influence of the emotion of love-of-ofFspring, in increasing 

 the secretion of Milk, is well known. The formation of this fluid is con- 

 tinually going on during the period of lactation ; but it is greatly increased 

 by the sight of the infant, or even by the thought of him, especially when as- 

 sociated with the idea of suckling : this gives rise to the sudden rush of blood 

 to the gland, which is known by nurses as the draught, and which occasions 

 a greatly-increased secretion. The strong desire to furnish milk, together 

 with the irritation of the gland through the nipple, has often been effectual 

 in producing the secretion in girls and old women, and even in men ( 853, d). 

 The quantity of the Gastric secretion is increased by exhilaration ; at least 

 if we may judge from the increase of the digestive powers, under such cir- 

 cumstances. Freedom from mental anxiety favours the secretion of fat ; 

 whilst continual solicitude effectually checks the disposition. It has been 

 stated that total despair has an equal tendency, with absence of care, to pro- 

 duce this effect ; persons left long to pine in condemned cells, without a shadow 

 of hope, frequently becoming remarkably fat in spite of their slender fare.* 

 The odoriferous secretion of the Skin, which is much more powerful in some 

 individuals than in others, is increased under the influence of certain mental 

 emotions (as fear or bashfulness), and commonly also by sexual desire. The 

 Sexual secretions themselves are strongly influenced by the condition of tne 

 mind. When it is frequently and strongly directed towards objects of passion, 

 these secretions are increased in amount to a degree which may cause them 

 to be a very injurious "drain on the powers of the system. On the other hand, 

 the active employment of the mental powers on other objects, has a tendency 

 to render less active, or even to check altogether, the processes by which they 

 are elaborated.! 

 i 



* Fletcher's Physiology, Part II., b, p. 11. 



j- This is a simple physiological fact, but of high moral application. The Author would 

 say to those of his younger readers, who urge the wants of Nature as an excuse for the il- 

 licit gratification of the sexual passion: " Try the effects of close mental application to some 

 of those ennobling pursuits, to which your profession introduces you, in combination with 

 vigorous bodily exercise (for the effects of which see 470), before you assert that the ap- 

 petite is unrestrainable, and act upon that assertion. Nothing tends so much to increase 

 the desire, as the continual direction of the mind towards the objects of its gratification. The 

 following observations, which the Author believes to be strictly correct, are extracted from 

 a valuable little work (anonymous) entitled, "Be not deceived, " addressed to Young Men; 

 they are directed to those who maintain that, the married state being natural to Man, illicit 

 intercourse is necessary for those who are prevented by circumstances from otherwise grati- 

 fying the sexual passion. "When the appetite is naturally indulged, that is, in marriage, the 

 necessary energy is supplied by the nervous stimulus of its natural accompaniment of love 

 before referred to, which prevents the injury which would otherwise arise from the in- 

 creased expenditure of animal power: and in like manner, also, the function being in itself 

 grateful, this personal attachment performs the further necessary office of preventing im- 

 moderate indulgence, by dividing the attention, through ilie numerous other sources of sym- 

 pathy and enjoyment which it simultaneously opens to the mind. But, \vheii the appetite 

 is irregularly indulged, that is in fornication, lor want of the healthful vigour of true love, 

 its energies become c.\h;m>tcd ; and from the want of the numerous other sympathetic; 

 sources of enjoyment in true love, in similar thoughts, common pursuits, and above all in 

 common holy hopes, the mere gross animal gratilieatiou of lust is resorted to with unnatural 

 frequency, and thus its powers become still further exhausted, and, therefore, still more 

 unsatisfying, u bile, ;it the same time, a habit is thus created, and these jointly cause an 

 increased craving; and the still greater deficiency in the satisfaction experienced in its indulg- 

 ence further, continually, ever in a circle, increases the habit, demand, indulgence, conse- 

 quent exhaustion, illmini.-heil satisfaction, and again demand, till the mind and body alike 

 become disorganized." Such considerations as these may, to some persons, appear misplaced 



