FEELIXG8 ACT AS MUSCULAR STIMULI. 213 



nnger, first showing itself in frowns, in distended nostrils, 

 in compressed lips, goes on to produce grinding of the 

 teeth, clenching of the fingers, blows of the fist on the ta 

 ble, and perhaps ends in a violent attack on the offending 

 person, or in throwing about and breaking the furniture. 

 From that pursing of the mouth indicative of slight dig- 

 pleasure, up to the frantic struggles of the maniac, we shall 

 iind that mental irritation tends to vent itself in bodily ac 

 tivity. 



All feelings, then sensations or emotions, pleasurable 

 or painful have this common characteristic, that they are 

 muscular stimuli. Not forgetting the few apparently ex 

 ceptional cases in which emotions exceeding a certain inten 

 sity produce prostration, we may set it down as a general 

 law that, alike in man and animals, there is a direct connec 

 tion between feeling and motion ; the last growing more 

 vehement as the first grows more intense. Were it allow 

 able here to treat the matter scientifically, we might trace 

 this general law down to the principle known among phys 

 iologists as that of reflex action.* Without doing this, 

 however, the above numerous instances justify the general 

 ization, that mental excitement of all kinds ends in excite 

 ment of the muscles ; and that the two preserve a more or 

 less constant ratio to each other. 



&quot; But what has all this to do with The Origin and 

 Function of Music ? &quot; asks the reader. Very much, as 

 we shall presently see. All music is originally vocal. All 

 vocal sounds are produced by the agency of certain mus 

 cles. These muscles, in common with those of the body at 

 large, are excited to contraction by pleasurable and painful 

 feelings. And therefore it is that feelings demonstrate 



* Those who seek information oil this point may find it in an interest 

 \ng tract by Mr. Alexander Bain, on Animal Instinct and Intelligence. 



