AND ANIMAL LIFE. 353 



the influence of the mind on the body. Ar- 

 mies, when flushed with victory, have been able 

 to traverse the most unwholesome situations 

 without detriment to health ; and such a feel- 

 ing has often dissipated malignant fevers and 

 affections, which were previously thinning their 

 ranks. PETIT, of Lyons, relates, that during 

 the time this city was besieged, in 1793, every 

 common sore was almost immediately affected 

 with gangrene, and that this consequence was 

 not only observed here, but showed itself in 

 every other place subject to the same unfortur 

 nate circumstances. 



CCCCXXII. In explaining these phenome- 

 na, I am forced to recur to certain principles de^ 

 veloped at the commencement of this work, viz. 

 that the blood is oxygenated, consequently stimulat- 

 ing, in the inverse ratio of the quantity contained 

 within the chest. Depressing passions have one 

 universal tendency, to augment the proportion 

 which the lungs receive, and therefore to dete- 

 riorate the condition of the sanguineous fluid. This 

 alteration is not produced in a moment, so as to 

 be sensibly felt by the whole body ; it is impos- 

 sible to fix any precise period for its occurrence, 

 as it is regulated entirely by the susceptibility 

 of the mind, and the severity of the depressing 

 feeling. If we suppose an individual to be con- 

 tinually apprehensive of losing his life, property, 

 or friends, he will sigh, or draw cjeep inspira- 



