ON THE ORGANIC FUNCTIONS. 943 



test, often resorted to in India, for the discovery of a thief amongst the serv- 

 ants of a family that of compelling all the parties to hold a certain quantity 

 of rice in the mouth during a few minutes the offender being generally dis- 

 tinguished by the comparative dryness of his mouthful at the end of the experi- 

 ment. The influence of the emotion of love of offspring in increasing the secre- 

 tion of Milk is well known. The formation of this fluid is continually going 

 on during the period of lactation ; but it is greatly increased by the sight of the 

 infant, or even by the thought of him, especially when associated with the idea 

 of suckling; this gives rise to the sudden rush of blood to the gland, which is 

 known by nurses as the draught, and which occasions a greatly increased secre- 

 tion. The strong desire to furnish milk, together with the irritation of the 

 gland through the nipple, has often been effectual in producing the secretion 

 in girls and old women, and even in men. The quantity of the Gastric secre- 

 tion is increased by exhilaration, at least if we may judge from the increase 

 of the digestive powers under such circumstances. Freedom from mental anx- 

 iety favors the secretion of Fat ; whilst continual solicitude effectually checks 

 the disposition. It has been stated that total despair has an equal tendency, 

 with absence of care, to produce this effect ; persons left long to pine in con- 

 demned cells, without a shadow of hope, frequently becoming remarkably fat, 

 in spite of their slender fare. 1 The odoriferous secretion of the Skin, which is 

 much more powerful in some individuals than in others, is increased under the 

 influence of certain mental emotions (as fear or bashfulness), and commonly 

 also by sexual desire. The Sexual secretions themselves are strongly influenced 

 by the condition of the mind. When it is frequently and strongly directed 

 towards objects of passion, these secretions are increased in amount, to a degree 

 which may cause them to be a very injurious drain on the powers of the sys- 

 tem. On the other hand, the active employment of the mental powers on other 

 objects has a tendency to render less active, or even to check altogether, the 

 processes by which they are elaborated. 3 



1 Fletcher's " Rudiments of Physiology," Partn., 5, p. 11. 



2 This is a simple physiological fact, but of high moral application. The Author would 

 say to those of his younger readers, who urge the wants of Nature as an excuse for the 

 illicit gratification of the sexual passion, "Try the effects of close mental application to 

 some of those ennobling pursuits, to which your profession introduces you, in combination 

 with vigorous bodily exercise (for the effects of which see | 771), before you assert that 

 the appetite is unrestrainable, and act upon that assertion." Nothing tends so much to 

 increase the desire, as the continual direction of the mind towards the object of its gratifi- 

 cation. The following observations, which the Author believes to be strictly correct, are 

 extracted from a valuable little work (anonymous) entitled " Be not deceived," addressed 

 to Young Men ; they are directed to those who maintain that, the married state being 

 natural to Man, illicit intercourse is necessary for those who are prevented by circum- 

 stances from otherwise gratifying the sexual passion. "When the appetite is naturally 

 indulged, that is, in marriage, the necessary energy is supplied by the nervous stimulus 

 of its natural accompaniment of love before referred to, which prevents the injury that 

 would otherwise arise from the increased expenditure of animal power : and in like man- 

 ner also, the function being in itself grateful, this personal attachment performs the fur- 

 ther necessary office of preventing immoderate indulgence, by dividing the attention, 

 through the numerous other sources of sympathy and enjoyment which it simultaneously 

 opens to the mind. But, when the appetite is irregularly indulged, that is in fornication, 

 for want of the healthful vigor of true love, its energies become exhausted ; and from the 

 want of the numerous other sympathetic sources of enjoyment in true love, in similar 

 thoughts, common pursuits, and above all in common holy hopes, the mere gross 

 animal gratification of lust is resorted to with unnatural frequency, and thus its 

 powers become still further exhausted, and, therefore, still more unsatisfying, while, 

 at the same time, a habit is thus created, and these jointly cause an increased craving ; 

 and the still greater deficiency in the satisfaction experienced in its indulgence further, 

 continually, ever in a circle, increases the habit, demand, indulgence, consequent 

 exhaustion, diminished satisfaction, and again demand till the mind and body alike 

 become disorganized." Such considerations as these may, to some persons, appear mis- 



