CLASS III. 1.1.3. OF VOLITION. 279 



more fuddenly to exhauft the fenforial power, and becaufe the 

 teeth are very fenfibie to cold. 



Thefe convulfive motions are neverthelefs reftrainable by vi- 

 olent voluntary counteraction ; and as their intervals are owing 

 to the pain of cold being for a time relieved by their exertion, 

 they may be compared to laughter, except that there is no in- 

 terval of pleafure preceding each moment of pain in this as in 

 the latter. 



M. M. Seel. 2. 2. i. 



3. Clamor. Screaming from pain. The talkative animals, 

 as dogs, and fwine, and children, fcream mod, when they are in 

 pain, and even from fear ; as they have ufed this kind of exer- 

 tion from their birth moft frequently and molt forcibly ; and 

 can therefore fooner exhauft the accumulation of fenforial pow- 

 er in the affected mufcular or fenfual organs by this mode of 

 exertion ; as defcribed in Sea. XXXIV. 1.3. This facility of 

 relieving pain by fcreaming is the fource of laughter, as explain- 

 ed below. 



4. Rifus. The pleafurable fenfations, which occafion laugh- 

 ter, are perpetually pafRng into the bounds of pain ; for pleaf- 

 ure and pain are often produced by different degrees of the 

 fame ftimulus ; as warmth, light, aromatic or volatile odours, 

 become painful by their excefs ; and the tickling on the foles 

 of the feet in children is a painful fenfation at the very time it 

 produces laughter. When the pleafurable ideas, which excite 

 us to laugh, pafs into pain, we ufe fome exertion, as a fcream, 

 to relieve the pain, but foon (top it again, as we are unwilling 

 to lofe the pleafure ; and thus we repeatedly begin to fcream, 

 and flop again alternately. So that in laughing there are three 

 ftages, firft of pleafure, then pain, then an exertion to relieve 

 that pain. See Sett. XXXIV. 1.3. 



Every one has been in a fituation, where fome ludicrous cir- 

 cumftance has excited him to laugh ; and at the fame time a 

 fenfe of decorum has forbid the exertion of thefe interrupted 

 fcreams ; and then the pain has become fo violent, as to occa- 

 Con him to ufe fome other great action, as biting his tongue, 

 and pinching himfelf, in lieu of the reiterated fcreams which 

 conftitute laughter. 



5. Convulfw. Convulfion. When the pains from defect or 

 excefs of motion are more diftrefling than thofe already defcrib- 

 ed, and are not relievable by fuch partial exertions, as in fcream- 

 ing, or laughter, more general convulsions occur ; which vary 

 perhaps according to the fituation of the pained part, or to fome 

 previous affociations formed by the early habits of life. When 

 thefc convulfive motions bend the body forwards, they are term- 

 ed 



