330 



NA TURE 



[August 2, 19CX) 



procedure above-mentioned produced no obvious diminution or 

 change of her emotional character. Heranger, her joy, her disgust, 

 and when provocation arose her fear remained as evident as ever. 

 Her joy at the approach or notice of the attendant, her rage at 

 the intrusion of a cat with which she was unfriendly, remained 

 as active and thorough. But among the signs expressive of rage 

 the bristUng of the coat along the back no longer occurred. On 

 he other hand, the eyes were well opened, and the pupil dis- 

 tinctly dilated in the paroxysm of anger. Since the brain had 

 been by the transection shut out from discharging impulses via 

 the cervical sympathetic the dilatation of pupil must have 

 occurred by inhibition of the action of the oculomotor centre. 



The coming of a visitor whose advent months before had 

 elicited violent anger, again provoked an exhibition ofwrath sig- 

 nificant as ever. The expression was that of aggressive rage. 

 The animal followed each movement of the stranger as though 

 of an opponent, growling viciously. A cat with which she was 

 never friendly, and a monkey new to the laboratory, ap- 

 proaching too near the kennel, excited similar ebullitions. 

 No doubt was left in our minds that sudden attacks of violent 

 anger were still easily excited. But she also gave evidence 

 daily that she had the accession of joyous pleasure and delight 

 she had always shown at the approach of the attendant the 

 first thing of a morning, or at feeding time, or when caressed 

 by him, or encouraged by his voice. 



Few dogs even when very hungry can be prevailed on to 

 touch dog's-flesh as food. Almost all turn from it with signs 

 of repugnance and dislike. I had strictly refrained from testing 



f .^ 



Fig. I. — Diagram showing the great reduction of the field of sentivity. 

 The head and neck and the diaphragm muscle (indicated by the curved 

 line behind the chest) are practically the only parts left sensitive. The 

 remainder of the body and the limbs, as well as the digestive and 

 respiratory organs behind the throat, and the whole of the circulatory 

 and other organs, are entirely cut off from making any contribution to 

 consciousness. 



this animal previously with regard to disgust at dog's-flesh 

 offered in her food. Flesh was given her daily in a bowl of 

 milk, and this she took with relish. The meat was cut into 

 pieces rather larger than the lumps of sugar usual for the 

 breakfast table. It was generally horse-flesh, sometimes ox- 

 flesh. We proceeded to the observation thus : the bowl 

 was placed by the attendant in the corner of the stall, 

 with milk and meat in every way as usual ; but the meat 

 was flesh from a dog killed on the previous day. Our 

 animal eagerly drew itself toward the food ; it had seen 

 the other dogs fed, and evidently itself was hungry. Its 

 muzzle had almost dipped into the milk before it suddenly 

 seemed to find something there amiss. It hesitated, moved its 

 muzzle about above the milk, made a venture to take a 

 piece of the meat, but before actually seizing it stopped 

 short and withdrew again from it. Finally, after some further 

 examination of the contents of the bowl (it usually com- 

 menced by taking out and eating the pieces of meat), without 

 touching them, the creature turned away from the bowl and 

 withdrew itself to the opposite side of the cage. Some minutes 

 later, in result of encouragement from us to try the food again, 

 it returned to the bowl. The same hesitant display of conflict- 

 ing desire and disgust was once more gone through. The bowl 

 was then removed by the attendant, emptied, washed, and horse- 

 flesh similarly prepared and placed in a fresh quantity of milk 

 was offered in it to the animal. The animal once more drew 



NO. 1605, VOL. 62] 



itself toward the bowl, and this time began to eat the meat, 

 soon emptying the dish. To press the flesh upon our animal 

 was of no real avail on any occasion ; the coaxing only succeeded 

 in getting her to, as it were, re-examine but not to touch the 

 morsels. The impression made on all of us by the dog's be- 

 haviour was that something in the dog's-flesh was repulsive to 

 her, and excited disgust unconquerable by ordinary hunger. 

 Some odour attaching to the flesh seemed the source of its 

 recognition. 



Fear appeared clearly elicitable. The attendant, approaching 

 from another room of which the door was open, chid the dog 

 in high scolding tones. The creature's head sank, her gaze 

 turned away from her advancing master, and her face seemed to 

 betray dejection and anxiety. The respiration became unquiet, 

 but the pulse nev^r changed its rate. 



In the face of these observations the vasomotor theory of the 

 production of emotion becomes, I think, untenable : also that 

 visceral sensations or presentations are necessary to emotion, 

 A mere remnant of all the non-projecting or affective senses 

 was left, and yet emotion persisted. If I understand it aright. 

 Prof James and Lange's theory lays stress on organic and 

 visceral presentations, but re-presentations of the same species 

 might no doubt be put forward in their place. That would be 

 a somewhat different matter. To exclude the latter hypothesis, 

 the deprivation of vascular and organic sensation might have 

 to date from a very early period of the individual life. Expe- 

 rience early acquires its emotional data. If after that all fresh 

 presentation were precluded, re-presentation might still be 

 possible on the basis of already gained experience. But it is 

 noteworthy that one of the dogs under observation had been 

 deprived of its sensation when only nine weeks old. Disgust 

 for dog's flesh could hardly have genesis in the experience of 

 nine weeks of puppy life in the kennel of the laboratory. 



Organic and vascular reaction, though not the actual excitant 

 of emotion, does nevertheless much strengthen it. That is part 

 of the kernel of the old contention about the strength of emotion 

 in the art of the artist. Hamlet's description of the actor, as 

 really moved by his expression, may be accepted as an answer. 



But, returning to the main question, we are forced back toward 

 the likelihood that the visceral expression of emotion is secondary 

 to the psychical state, or rather to the cerebral nervous action 

 correlate with that. There is plenty of evidence of the strong 

 nexus between emotion and muscular action. As we commonly 

 phrase it, " emotion moves us," hence the word itself. Emotion 

 if developed in intensity, impels toward vigorous movement. 

 Every vigorous movement of the body, though its more obvious 

 instrument be the skeletal musculature of the limbs and 

 trunk, involves also the less noticeable co-operation of the 

 viscera, especially of the circulatory and respiratory. The de- 

 mand made upon the muscles that move the frame for further 

 expenditure of power involves a heightened action of the 

 nutrient organs which supply to the muscles »their material for 

 energy. This increased action of the viscera is therefore colli- 

 gate with this activity of muscles. We should therefore expect 

 visceral action to occur along with the muscular expression of 

 emotion. The close tie between visceral action and states of 

 emotion need not therefore surprise us. 



That emotion is primarily a cerebral process obtains support 

 from observations where the hemispheres of the brain have 

 been removed. Prof. Goltz observed a dog kept many months 

 in that condition. It on no occasion gave any evidence of 

 joy or pleasure in commerce either with man or beast. Anger 

 or displeasure, Goltz says, it repeatedly expressed, both by 

 gesture and by voice. Of sexual emotion it never gave a sign. 

 Save for expression of displeasure when too roughly handled, 

 it was indifferent and supremely neutral to its surroundings. 

 We are, of course, in observations whose basis is such experiment 

 as this, hopelessly cut off from introspective help. It can be 

 urged that the expression of emotion might be provocable, and 

 nevertheless the psychical emotion remain absent. On such an 

 hypothesis the same stimulus which excites the mind must excite 

 concurrently and per se excite motor centres producing move- 

 ment appropriate to an affective process in the mind. This 

 is not improbable. All sensations referred to the body 

 itself rather than interpreted as qualities of objects in the ex- 

 ternal world, tend to be tinged with " feeling." Sense organs 

 which initiate sensations tinged with feeling tend to excite 

 motor centres directly and imperatively. Hence, in animals re- 

 duced to merely spinal condition, stimuli calculated to produce 

 pain normally (of course, unable ^to do so in a spinal animal 



