356 INNEPxVATION. [CHAP. XI. 



excitement of the same parts must be attributed to the different 

 nature of the mental stimulus. 



As the passing thought the change wrought during the exercise 

 of the intellect may excite the centre of emotion, so this latter 

 may exert its influence upon the general tenor of the mind, and give 

 to all our thoughts the tinge of mirth or sadness, of hope or despon- 

 dency, as one or the other may prevail. We say of one man, that he 

 is constitutionally morose ; of a second, that he is naturally gay and 

 mirthful ; and of a third, that he is a nervous man, and that he is 

 not likely to be otherwise. One man allows his feelings to hurry 

 him on to actions which his intellect condemns ; whilst another has 

 no difficulty in keeping all his feelings in entire subjection to his 

 judgment. e< Of two individuals with differently constituted minds," 

 remarks Dr. Carpenter, " one shall judge of everything through the 

 medium of a gloomy morose temper, which, like a darkened glass, 

 represents to his judgment the whole world in league to injure him; 

 and all his determinations, being based upon this erroneous view, 

 exhibit the indications of it in his actions, which are themselves, 

 nevertheless, of an entirely voluntary character. On the other hand, 

 a person of a cheerful, benevolent disposition, looks at the world 

 around as through a Claude-Lorraine glass, seeing everything in 

 its brightest and sunniest aspect, and, with intellectual faculties 

 precisely similar to those of the former individual, he will come to 

 opposite conclusions ; because the materials which form the basis 

 of his judgment are submitted to it in a very different form." Such 

 examples abundantly illustrate the important share which the emo- 

 tions take in the formation and development of character, and how 

 all things presented to the mind through the senses may take their 

 hue from the prevailing state of the feelings. If a certain part of 

 the brain be associated with emotion, it is plain that that part must 

 be in intimate connexion with the seat of change in the operations 

 of the intellect, in order that each may affect the other; that the 

 former may prompt the latter, or the latter excite or hold in check 

 the former. And this association of the emotions with a certain 

 portion of the brain explains the influence of natural temperament, 

 and of varying states of the physical health, upon the moral and 

 intellectual condition of individuals. We may gather from it how 

 necessary it is to a well-regulated mind, that we should attend not 

 to mental culture only, but to the vigour and health of the body 

 also ; that to ensure the full development of the mens sana, we must 

 secure the possession of the corpus sanum. 



Certain diseases are evidently associated with disturbed or excited 



