292 FEAR. Chap. XII. 



a sudden and uncontrollable tendency to headlong flight; 

 and so strong is this, that the boldest soldiers may be 

 seized with a sudden panic. 



As fear rises to an extreme pitch, the dreadful scream 

 of terror is heard. Great beads of sweat stand on the 

 skin. All the muscles of the body are relaxed. Utter 

 prostration soon follows, and the mental powers fail. 

 The intestines are affected. The sphincter muscles cease 

 to act, and no longer retain the contents of the body. 



Dr. J. Crichton Browne has given me so striking an 

 account of intense fear in an insane woman, aged thirty- 

 five, that the description though painful ought not to 

 be omitted. When a paroxysm seizes her, she screams 

 out, " This is hell! " " There is a black woman! " " I 

 can't get out! " — and other such exclamations. When 

 thus screaming, her movements are those of alternate 

 tension and tremor. For one instant she clenches her 

 hands, holds her arms out before her in a stiff semi- 

 flexed position; then suddenly bends her body forwards, 

 sways rapidly to and fro, draws her fingers through 

 her hair, clutches at her neck, and tries to tear off her 

 clothes. The sterno-cleido-mastoid muscles (which serve 

 to bend the head on the chest) stand out prominently, 

 as if swollen, and the skin in front of them is much 

 wrinkled. Her hair, which is cut short at the back of 

 her head, and is smooth when she is calm, now stands 

 on end; that in front being dishevelled by the move- 

 ments of her hands. The countenance expresses great 

 mental agony. The skin is flushed over the face and 

 neck, down to the clavicles, and the veins of the forehead 

 and neck stand out like thick cords. The lower lip drops, 

 and is somewhat everted. The mouth is kept half open, 

 with the lower jaw projecting. The cheeks are hollow 

 and deeply furrowed in curved lines running from the 

 wings of the nostrils to the corners of the mouth. The 



