CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



has a mind has experience of it, as a part of the 

 mental nature. Everything we term pleasure or 

 pain comes under this head. 



i. It being a well-known circumstance that our 

 feelings, when at all strong, manifest themselves 

 in outward demonstrations and physical effects, 

 which we sometimes call their expression, and 

 at other times speak of as ' excitement/ ' being 

 moved,' &c. it is a proper subject of inquiry to 

 ascertain precisely what is the connection of our 

 various states of feeling with the bodily members 

 and processes. 



On examination, it would appear to be a funda- 

 mental proposition respecting emotion generally, 

 that the inward state is associated with a diffusive 

 action over the system, through the medium of 

 the nerves and brain. In other words, the physi- 

 cal fact that accompanies and supports the mental 

 fact, without making or constituting that fact, is 

 an agitation of all those bodily members more 

 immediately allied with the brain by nervous com- 

 munications. A sharp pain, as the prick of an 

 instrument, or the stroke of a whip, brings out 

 this diffusive action in the most prominent form. 

 Under such an infliction, an animal or a human 

 being is moved and convulsed from head to foot ; 

 and these movements are produced invariably 

 along with the conscious state. If they fail to 

 appear in any instance, there is either some torpor 

 of the system, or an extraordinary effort of sup- 

 pression by the will. The organs first affected 

 under excitement are the moving members. Some 

 of these are more readily agitated than others ; 

 for example, the features of the face and the 

 voice ; for which reason these constitute the prin- 

 cipal medium of the expression of feeling. An 

 emotion that may not have sufficient strength to 

 make us jump, fling out the arms, or erect the 

 body, is yet able to produce a smile or a frown, a 

 cry or a groan. But besides the agitation of the 

 muscular framework, an important series of effects 

 occurs in the organic functions of the body, the 

 respiration, circulation, digestion, &c. One of 

 the secretions, the lachrymal, is specifically stimu- 

 lated under emotion, as much so as the move- 

 ments of the features. 



According to this view, every variety of con- 

 sciousness ought to have a special form of diffusive 

 manifestation. It is not every state, however, that 

 carries this diffusive action far enough to be 

 ostensible as a characteristic outward display. 

 Still the broad differences among our feelings are 

 made apparent in this way. Take, for instance, 

 the great and fundamental distinction of pleasure 

 and pain. We find, if we refer to the more ex- 

 pressive parts of the frame, the features, that there 

 are certain muscles moved under the one state, 

 and a different class moved under the other. In 

 the gay and pleasing emotions, the face is opened 

 out laterally by the action of the muscles that 

 draw the parts away from the middle line. The 

 principal muscles engaged in this action are those 

 named by anatomists the 'buccinator' and 'zygo- 

 matic ? for the mouth, and the ' occipito-frontalis ' 

 for the eyebrows. In painful states, the features 

 are drawn together, or towards the middle line, by 

 the action of the corrugator of the eyebrows, and 

 the orbicular muscle surrounding the mouth. The 

 effect on the mouth is still further carried out by 

 two muscles that are moved under painful feelings, 

 and not othenvise, the one depressing the angle 



846 



of the mouth, and the other elevating the upper 

 lip. Another exceedingly characteristic muscle, 

 also concerned in modes of pain, elevates both 

 the wing of the nose and the upper lip ; we may 

 note this action under an ill smell or any sort of 

 disgust. Very often it is the relaxation of a set of 

 muscles, more than their excitement, that gives 

 the expression ; of this, smiling and laughter 

 furnish the most opposite examples. The relaxa- 

 tion of the muscular ring of the mouth allows the 

 retracting muscles to preponderate, without any 

 unusual exertion being thrown into those muscles. 

 In great pain, a violent tension of the muscles 

 generally is more characteristic than the special 

 movements that are prompted. The more de- 

 pressing emotions, as Terror and Grief, tell upon 

 the system by depriving the members of their 

 wonted energy, and by weakening the organic 

 functions through the same loss of nervous power. 



2. Emotion is the happiness or misery of the 

 sentient being. The inward life of all creatures 

 endowed with mind is made up of successive 

 modes or varieties of joy and suffering, inter- 

 mingled with actions and thoughts which in them- 

 selves have often little or no consciousness. In 

 perfect sleep, there is a suspension of all the mani- 

 festations of mind. In the waking state, the three 

 great elements of mind may exist in every variety 

 of mixture and degree. The opposite of emotion 

 is apathy or indifference. 



The susceptibility to pleasure is a property of 

 the mental system, and there are specific ways 

 of touching the chords of delight. There is a 

 great agreement as to the influences that can 

 arouse the pleasurable diffusion ; healthy exercise, 

 food, sweet tastes and odours, light, &c. are uni- 

 versal agents in giving enjoyment. The system 

 of each individual may be made to vibrate to 

 many various modes and degrees of delight. In 

 some constitutions, pleasurable emotion flows 

 almost of its own accord ; healthy sustenance and 

 the most ordinary stimulants being all that is 

 wanted. These are minds adapted for pleasure 

 and for simplicity of life. The freshness of early 

 years approaches to this state of things ; and it 

 is exemplified in some of the races of mankind 

 inhabiting genial climates. 



3. Emotion, by acting on the will, determines 

 the conduct. Our voluntary activity has reference 

 to our various emotional sensibilities. The avoid- 

 ance of pain, present or imminent, or the sustain- 

 ing or procuring of states of pleasure, with the 

 habits of acting that have grown out of these 

 impulses, constitute the sum and substance of 

 human exertion. The habitual conduct comes in 

 as a sure criterion of the prevailing modes of 

 feeling. Every emotion has this property among 

 others, that it determines a certain measure of 

 active pursuit. A man works for his sustenance, 

 his tastes, the objects of his affection, or whatever 

 he feels with sufficient force to move his active 

 endeavours. 



4. The properties of Emotion in general are not 

 exhausted if we leave out the various important 

 relations to the Intellect. All states of feeling 

 have a certain tendency to persist when the 

 original stimulus is withdrawn, and this persisting 

 form constitutes the idea of the state, which 

 answers many of the ends of the full impression. 

 Thus it is that a recollected feeling will stimulate 

 the will, as when a man labours to appease the 



