Chap. XII. CONCLUSION. 307 



ourselves to discover and encounter any danger. Some 

 of the other signs of fear may likewise be accounted for, 

 at least in part, through these same principles. Men, 

 during numberless generations, have endeavoured to es- 

 cape from their enemies or danger by headlong flight, 

 or by violently struggling with them; and such great 

 exertions will have caused the heart to beat rapidly, the 

 breathing to be hurried, the chest to heave, and the nos- 

 trils to be dilated. As these exertions have often been 

 prolonged to the last extremity, the final result will have 

 been utter prostration, pallor, perspiration, trembling of 

 all the muscles, or their complete relaxation. And now, 

 whenever the emotion of fear is strongly felt, though it 

 may not lead to any exertion, the same results tend to 

 reappear, through the force of inheritance and associa- 

 tion. 



Nevertheless, it is probable that many or most of the 

 above symptoms of terror, such as the beating of the 

 heart, the trembling of the muscles, cold perspiration, 

 &c, are in large part directly due to the disturbed or 

 interrupted transmission of nerve-force from the cerebro- 

 spinal system to various parts of the body, owing to the 

 mind being so powerfully affected. "We may confidently 

 look to this cause, independently of habit and associa- 

 tion, in such cases as the modified secretions of the in- 

 testinal canal, and the failure of certain glands to act. 

 With respect to the involuntary bristling of the hair, we 

 have good reason to believe that in the case of animals 

 this action, however it may have originated, serves, to- 

 gether with certain voluntary movements, to make them 

 appear terrible to their enemies; and as the same invol- 

 untary and voluntary actions are performed by animals 

 nearly related to man, we are led to believe that man has 

 retained through inheritance a relic of them, now become 

 useless. It is certainly a remarkable fact, that the minute 



