I9II.] IN RELATION TO THE EMOTIONS. 79 



of the physical struggle for self-preservation through the motor 

 mechanism and an inhibition of the function of the leading organs 

 that do not participate — the non-combatants, so to speak. Fear 

 arose from injury, and is one of the oldest and surely the strongest 

 emotion. By the slow process of vast empyricism nature evolved 

 the wonderful defensive motor mechanism of many animals and of 

 man. Now the stimulation of this mechanism leading to a physical 

 struggle is action, and the stimulation of this mechanism without 

 action is emotion. 



We may say that fear is a phylogenetic fight or flight. On this 

 hypothesis all the organs and parts of the entire animal are inte- 

 grated, connected up or correlated, for self-preservation by activity 

 of its motor mechanism. We fear not in our hearts alone, not 

 in our brain alone, not in our viscera alone ; fear influences every 

 organ and tissue — each organ or tissue is stimulated or inhibited ac- 

 cording to its use or hindrance in the physical struggle for exist- 

 ence. In thus concentrating all or most of the nerve force on the 

 nerve muscular mechanism for defense alone, a greater physical 

 power is developed. Hence, it is that animals under the stimulus 

 of fear are able to perform preternatural feats of strength. Then, 

 too, for the same reason the exhaustion following fear will be the 

 greater, as the powerful stimulus of fear drains the cup of nervous 

 energy, though no visible action may result. An animal under the 

 stimulus of fear may be likened to an automobile with the clutch 

 thrown out but whose engine is racing at top speed. The gasoline 

 is being consumed, the machinery is being worn, but the machine 

 as a whole does not move, though the power of its engine may 

 cause it to tremble. 



Applying this conception to human beings of today certain mys- 

 terious phenomena are at once elucidated. It must be borne in 

 mind that man has not been presented with any new organs to meet 

 the requirements of his present state of civilization — indeed not only 

 does he possess the same type of organs as his savage fellows but 

 also the same type of organs possessed by even the lower animals. 

 In fact the present status of civilization of man is now operated 

 with the primary equipment of brutish organs. Perhaps the most 



