Chap. III. ACTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 73 



women prepare to exert their muscles to the utmost in 

 order to relieve their sufferings. 



We thus see that the undirected radiation of nerve- 

 force from the nerve-cells which are first alfected — 

 the long-continued habit of attempting b} r struggling 

 to escape from the cause of suffering — and the con- 

 sciousness that voluntary muscular exertion relieves pain, 

 have all probably concurred in giving a tendency to the 

 most violent, almost convulsive, movements under ex- 

 treme suffering; and such movements, including those 

 of the vocal organs, are universally recognized as highly 

 expressive of this condition. 



As the mere touching of a sensitive nerve reacts in a 

 direct manner on the heart, severe pain will obviously 

 react on it in like manner, but far more energetically. 

 Nevertheless, even in this case, we must not overlook 

 the indirect effects of habit on the heart, as we shall 

 see when we consider the signs of rage. 



When a man suffers from an agony of pain, the per- 

 spiration often trickles down his face; and I have been 

 assured by a veterinary surgeon that he has frequently 

 seen drops falling from the belly and running down the 

 inside of the thighs of horses, and from the bodies of 

 cattle, when thus suffering. He has observed this, when 

 there has been no struggling which would account for 

 the perspiration. The whole body of the female hippo- 

 potamus, before alluded to, was covered with red-col- 

 oured perspiration whilst giving birth to her young. So 

 it is with extreme fear; the same veterinary has often 

 seen horses sweating from this cause; as has Mr. Bartlett 

 with the rhinoceros; and with man it is a well-known 

 symptom. The cause of perspiration bursting forth in 

 these cases is quite obscure; but it is thought by .some 

 physiologists to be connected with the failing power of 



the capillary circulation; and we know that the vaso- 

 6 



