466 PSYCHOLOGY. 



and each one alone. Probably in him the facial mimicry 

 is an entirely restricted and localized thing, without sym- 

 pathetic changes of any sort elsewhere. 



Third Objection. Manifesting an emotion, so far from 

 increasing it, makes it cease. Eage evaporates after a good 

 outburst ; it is pent-tip emotions that " work like madness 

 in the brain." 



Reply. The objection fails to discriminate between 

 what. is felt during and what is felt after the manifestation. 

 During the manifestation the emotion is always felt. In 

 the normal course of things this, being the natural channel 

 of discharge, exhausts the nerve-centres, and emotional 

 calm ensues. But if tears or anger are simply suppressed, 

 whilst the object of grief or rage remains unchanged before 

 the mind, the current which would have invaded the nor- 

 mal channels turns into others, for it must find some out- 

 let of escape. It may then work different and worse effects 

 later on. Thus vengeful brooding may replace a burst of 

 indignation ; a dry heat may consume the frame of one who 

 fain would weep, or he may, as Dante says, turn to stone 

 within ; and then tears or a storming fit may bring a grate- 

 ful relief. This is when the current is strong enough to 

 strike into a pathological path when the normal one is 

 dammed. When this is so, an immediate outpour may be 

 best. But here, to quote Prof. Bain again : 



" There is nothing more implied than the fact that an emotion may 

 be too strong to be resisted, and we only waste our strength in the 

 endeavor. If we are really able to stem the torrent, there is no more 

 reason for refraining from the attempt than in the case of weaker 

 feelings. And undoubtedly the hahitnal control of the emotions is not 

 to be attaihed without a systematic restraint, extended to weak and 

 strong." 



When we teach children to repress their emotional talk 

 and display, it is not that they may/eeZ more — quite the 

 reverse. It is that they may think more ; for, to a certain 

 extent, whatever currents are diverted from the regions 

 below, must swell the activity of the thought-tracts of the 

 brain. In apoplexies and other brain injuries we get the 

 opposite condition — an obstruction, namely, to the passage 



