AND ANIMAL LIFE. 331 



if, from observing the effects of this passion, he is 

 induced to place it in the latter organ, he may 

 as logically refer it to any other part of the frame 

 if excited or depressed* A difference in the de- 

 gree of the consequences occasioned, is insuf- 

 ficient to authorize a distinction of such into 

 causes and effects, unless in relation to each other, 

 and in reference to the mind as the primary 

 agent. 



CCCLXXXVII. Although palpitation of the 

 heart is a concomitant of fear or anger, yet it 

 is not a proof that either of these has its seat in 

 the thorax, nor does the general reference of 

 mankind to the region of palpitation yield any 

 support whatever to this opinion. The learned 

 and the illiterate act equally from the impulse 

 or feeling of the moment, in regard to the ex- 

 ternal expressions of nature. The hand is fre- 

 quently placed over the heart when we are agi- 

 tated by the most tender or elevated passions, 

 whether in solitude or society ; and when we wish 

 to communicate to others a knowledge of our 

 sentiments, the same sign is employed. In the 

 first instance, it is almost unconsciously applied 

 to the heart in the second, because the indi- 

 vidual is aware that he speaks most eloquently to 

 his hearers when he brings into action the most 

 significant of conventional symbols ; and this is a 

 character as well understood as paleness, or redness, 

 or the expressions of the tongue. 



