Herrick, Modem Algedonic Theories. 27 



alone drives one from society. Still more frequently psychical 

 reflexes become associated with it and enhance its power. Fear, 

 which originates in a shock or contraction wave of the vascular 

 system, bringing a whole series of visceral and secretory changes 

 in its wake, illustrates the possibility of separating the sensa- 

 tional from the cognitive element. Dreams often afford in- 

 stances of all the physical manifestations of fear, with no ade- 

 quate cognitive process. The writer has dreamed of being the 

 actor in a play in which fear of impending danger entered, and, 

 in his capacity as actor, felt fear (sensational); while in his ca- 

 pacity of critic he, at the same time, observed the entire inade- 

 quacy of the supposed occasions of fear. 



Lange says : " No one has ever thought of separating the 

 emotion produced by an unusually loud sound from the true in- 

 ward affections. No one hesitates to call it a true inward affec- 

 tion. No one hesitates to call it a sort of fright, and it shows 

 the ordinary signs of fright. And yet it is by no means com- 

 bined with the idea of danger, or in any way occasioned by as- 

 sociations, memories, or other mental processes. The phenom- 

 ena of fright follow the noise immediately, without a trace of 

 spiritual fear. Many men can never grow used to standing near 

 a cannon when it is fired off, although they perfectly know that 

 there is danger neither for themselves nor for others — the bare 

 sound is too much for them." One who has walked over a rail- 

 road trestle by night and narrowly escaped a fatal plunge by ob- 

 serving just in time the absence of a tie, will be able to recall 

 the peculiar series of organic sensations involved. The thrill 

 of vaso-motor disturbance pervading the body — the twitch of 

 the radial artery — the pain in the sternal region — the suffocating 

 sensation in the breast and lump in the throat — and finally, the 

 " gone " sensation in the abdomen somewhat resembling a sen- 

 sation of cold, and due in all probability to vaso-constrictor re- 

 actions in the visceral vessels — these, and many more, illustrate 

 the bodily effects which may wholly precede the apprehension 

 of danger, and may be enhanced by a variety of imagination 

 pictures, and may express themselves in impulsive gasps and 

 gestures. It is not necessary to call attention to the fact that 



