Chap. III. ACTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 79 



sexes is widely different from maternal love; and when 

 lovers meet, we know that their hearts beat quickly, 

 their breathing is hurried, and their faces flush; for 

 this love is not inactive like that of a mother for her 

 infant. 



A man may have his mind filled with the blackest 

 hatred or suspicion, or be corroded with envy or jealousy, 

 but as these feelings do not at once lead to action, and as 

 they commonly last for some time, they are not shown 

 by any outward sign, excepting that a man in this state 

 assuredly does not appear cheerful or good-tempered. 

 If indeed these feelings break out into overt acts, rage 

 takes their place, and will be plainly exhibited. Paint- 

 ers can hardly portray suspicion, jealous}', envy, &c, 

 except by the aid of accessories which tell the tale; 

 and poets use such vague and fanciful expressions as 

 " green-eyed jealousy." Spenser describes suspicion as 

 " Foul, ill-favoured, and grim, under his eyebrows look- 

 ing still askance," &c; Shakespeare speaks of envy "as 

 lean-faced in her loathsome case; " and in another place 

 he says, " no black envy shall make my grave; " and 

 again as " above pale envy's threatening reach." 



Emotions and sensations have often been classed as 

 exciting or depressing. When all the organs of the 

 body and mind, — those of voluntary and involuntary 

 movement, of perception, sensation, thought, &c, — 

 perform their functions more energetically and rapidly 

 than usual, a man or animal may be said to be excited, 

 and, under an opposite state, to be depressed. Anger 

 and joy are from the first exciting emotions, and they 

 naturally lead, more especially the former, to energetic 

 movements, which react on the heart and this again 

 on the brain. A physician once remarked to me as a 

 proof of the exciting nature of anger, that a man when 

 excessively jaded will sometimes invent imaginary 



