28 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



mental images may be almost equally effective with the actual 

 external irritations in producing the sensational responses of 

 emotions. Before passing from the direct sensational elements, 

 however, it may be noticed that those senses which externalize 

 their data (vision, hearing, etc.) have special powers over the 

 emotions which may in part be explained by a sort of central 

 (bulbar?) irradiation. Simple colors aad musical sounds pro- 

 duce a vague and feeble pleasure unworthy to be called emo- 

 tional, but similar to the normal subjectivity of nervous action ; 

 but a symphony or aurora plays on the sensitive organism like 

 a harp. The writer, without musical tastes or education, con- 

 fesses to the tumult of indescribable sensations produced by 

 Wagner or Beethoven. Flushes of cold and heat ; tinglings 

 and palpitations local and general ; gusts and torrents in the 

 blood ; creeping, swelling, scintillation of the skin ; giddiness 

 and elation — these and indescribable "all-over" sensations are 

 easily separable from intellectual appreciation, which may even 

 be absent ; and one may be a wandering spectator observing the 

 irrational gyrations of his own sense to tintinnabulating stimuli 

 upon which judgment turns the cold shoulder. Another class 

 afforded by the tickling and shuddering, or irradiation sensations 

 proper, further illustrates the necessity of diffusion in emotional 

 sensation. The slight sensations of tickling, aided by subject- 

 ive modifications, extend in most varied and irresistible sensa- 

 tions over the whole body. Its emotional character is almost 

 wholly apart from the intellectual element. The shudder and 

 chill which spring from a gritting sound or the velvety touch 

 of a peach, imply in addition considerable instinctive elements. 

 The effect of instinct is powerful in the emotions generally. 

 The faintness at sight of blood may be entirely apart from ap- 

 prehension, The universal creepiness inspired by the approach 

 of a harmless snake or the proximity to a precipice, are illustra- 

 tions of a form of sensation obviously highly developed in ani- 

 mals (witness the rising hair of the new-born kitten at the odor 

 of a dog). The sight of many small animals, pets, or children, 

 produces a marked thrill in most children, often accompanied 

 by curious sensations at the root of the teeth (analogous to the 



