THE MIND'S MIRROR. 259 



Herbert Spencer's views refer "all feelings to this same centre, 

 admitting also the co-operation of the other parts of the brain. By 

 itself, the medulla cannot generate emotion," but, adds Mr. Spencer, 

 "it is that out of which emotion is evolved by the co-ordinating 

 actions of the great centres above it. 1 ' How, by way of conclusion, 

 can we account for the diversity of views thus expressed, and to 

 which side should we lean in our views regarding the seat of the 

 emotions? Probably, as a tentative measure, we may rest most 

 safely by assuming that the production of emotion is a compound 

 act in which not merely the big brain but the sensorium is likewise 

 concerned, as implied by Dr. Carpenter; and further, that through 

 the medulla the .effects of the emotions or the emotions as we 

 behold them in the body are ultimately evolved, " Much may be 

 said on both sides " of the argument, to use Sir Roger de Coverley's 

 phrase. The difficulty has nowhere been more fairly summarised 

 than in Dr. Tuke's declaration that "there are objections to the 

 attempt to dissever and separately localise the intellectual and the 

 emotional elements, mental states in which they are combined ; and 

 yet I cannot but think that such a special relationship between the 

 emotional element and the medulla must be admitted, as shall 

 explain why the passions act upon the muscles and upon the organic 

 functions in a way universally felt to be different from that in which 

 a purely intellectual process acts upon them. On the hypothesis 

 which refers the emotional and intellectual elements equally to the 

 hemispheres (big brain), or which does not at least recognise that 

 the power of expressing emotions is dependent upon the medulla 

 oblongata, it seems to me more difficult to account physiologically 

 for the popular belief of the feelings being located in the heart or 

 breast, and for the sensations at the pit of the stomach ; while the 

 recognition, in some form or other, of an anatomical or physiological 

 connection between the medulla oblongata and the emotions, brings 

 the latter into close relation with the ganglionic cells of the pneumo- 

 gastric (a nerve in part controlling the movements of the heart, of breath- 

 ing, and swallowing) and with the alleged origin of the sympathetic." 

 Thus far we have been engaged in the study of the physiology of 

 the emotions, and in the endeavour to comprehend the nature of the 

 feelings from the nervous side. Our next duty lies in the direction 

 of endeavouring to understand the development of the outward 

 signs of the emotions as displayed not merely in the mind's mirror 

 the face itself but in the body at large also. As the emotions are 

 expressed through muscular movements of various kinds blushing 

 itself being no exception to this rule our first inquiries may be 

 directed towards ascertaining the exact nature of the relationship 

 between mind and muscle. The ultimate question which awaits 

 solution will resolve itself into the query, " How has this relationship 



s 2 



