EFFECT OF INCONGKUOUS TERCEPTIONS. 203 



roarious delight." And in so far as mirth is caused "by the 

 gush of agreeable feeling that follows the cessation of men- 

 tal strain, it fuvther illustrates the general principle above 

 set forth. But no explanation is thus afforded of the mirth 

 which ensues when the short silence between the andante 

 and allegro in one of Beethoven's symphonies, is broken by 

 a loud sneeze. In this, and hosts of like cases, the mental 

 tension is not coerced but spontaneous — not disagreeable 

 but agreeable ; and the coming impressions to which the 

 attention is directed, promise a gratification that few, if 

 any, desire to escape. Hence, when the unlucky sneeze 

 occurs, it cannot be that the laughter of the audience is 

 due simply to the release from an irksome attitude of 

 mind : some other cause must be sought. 



This cause we shall arrive at by carrying our analysis a 

 stej) further. We have but to consider the quantity of feel- 

 ing that exists under such circumstances, and then to ask 

 what are the conditions that determine the direction of its 

 discharge, to at once reach a solution. Take a case. You 

 are sitting in a theatre, absorbed in the progress of an in- 

 teresting drama. Some climax has been reached which 

 has aroused your sympathies — say, a reconciliation between 

 the hero and heroine, after long and painful misunderstand- 

 ing. The feelings excited by this scene are not of a kind 

 from which you seek relief; but are, on the contrary, a 

 grateful relief from the painful feelings with which you 

 have witnessed the previous estrangement. Moreover, the 

 sentiments these fictitious personages have for the moment 

 inspired you with, are not such as would lead you to re- 

 joice in any indignity offered to them ; but rather, such as 

 would make you resent the 'iidignity. And now, while 

 you are contemplating the reconcihation with a pleasurable 

 sympathy, there appears from behind the scenes a tame 

 kid, which, having stared round at the audience, walks up 

 to the lovers and sniffs at them. You cannot help joining 



