3 i8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cause of it is exclusively moral that those enjoyments which are least con- 

 nected with material objects, the most spiritual, the most ideal may be nothing 

 else than sensations purely physical, developed in the interior of the system, as 

 are those procured by the Hashish. At least, so far as relates to that of which 

 we are internally conscious, there is no distinction between these two orders of 

 sensations, in spite of the diversity in the causes to which they are due ; for the 

 Hashish-eater is happy, not like the gourmand or the famished man when 

 satisfying his appetite, or the voluptuary in gratifying his amative desires ; but 

 like him who hears tidings which fill him with joy, like the miser counting his 

 treasures, the gambler who is successful at play, or the ambitious man who is 

 intoxicated with success." 



Most persons will be able to recall analogous states of exhilaration, 

 and the reverse condition of depression, in themselves; the former 

 being characterized by a feeling of general well-being, a sentiment of 

 pleasure in the use of all the bodily and mental powers, and a dis- 

 position to look with enjoyment upon the present, and with hope to 

 the future ; while in the latter state there is a feeling of general but 

 indefinable discomfort. Every exertion, whether Mental or Bodily, is 

 felt as a burden ; the present is wearisome, and the future is gloomy. 

 These, like all other phases of Human Nature, are faithfully portrayed 

 by Shakespeare. Thus Borneo gives expression to the feelings inspired 

 by the first state : 



" My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne ; 

 And, all this day, an unaccustomed spirit 

 Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts." 



{Romeo and Juliet, V., 1.) 



While the reverse state is delineated by Hamlet in his familiar 

 soliloquy : 



" I have of late but wherefore I know not lost all my mirth, foregone all 

 custom of exercises ; and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, that 

 this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory ; this most ex- 

 cellent canopy, the air, look you this brave o'erhanging firmament, this ma- 

 jestic roof fretted with golden fire, why it appears no other thing to me than a 

 foul and pestilent congregation of vapors." {Hamlet, II., 2.) 







In the conditions here referred to, the same feelings of pleasure 

 and discomfort attend all the operations of the mind the merely 

 Sensational and the Intellectual. In the state of exhilaration, we feel 

 a gratification from sensations which at other times pass unnoticed, 

 while those which are usually pleasurable are remarkably enhanced ; 

 and in like manner, the trains of Ideas which are started being gener- 

 erally attended with similar agreeable feelings, we are said to be under 

 the influence of the pleasurable or elevating Emotions. On the other 

 hand, in the state of depression we feel an indescribable discomfort 

 from the very sensations which before produced the liveliest gratifi- 

 cation ; and the thoughts of the past, the present, and the future, 



