THE CULT OF JOY 311 
secretions.” Emotion may influence the produc- 
tion of adrenalin by the core of the adrenal glands, 
and a slight increase in this powerful substance 
constricts the smaller blood-vessels, raises the blood 
pressure, excites and freshens the muscles, increases 
the sugar-content of the blood, and so on. Good 
news, psychical if anything is, may set in motion 
a series of physico-chemical and vital processes, 
complex beyond the ken of the wisest. A'nd the 
cheerful man, who cultivates the habit of happiness, 
finding reasons for rejoicing in the sunshine and the 
stars, in flowers and birds, in works of art and the 
faces of his friends, will have his “ joy-reward ” or 
euphoria added unto him unless he is fool enough 
to pursue it. 
The second line of argument refers to the cir- 
culation. Wordsworth was a better physiologist 
than he knew when he spoke of his heart leaping 
up at the sight of the rainbow, or filling with 
pleasure and dancing at the recollection of the 
daffodils. He may not have known much about 
the distribution of the pneumogastric nerve, but 
he knew of the influence of joy on the circulation. 
Experiments have been made by prevaricating 
physiologists who take the pulses of whole classes 
of students, give them milk-sugar pills, tell them 
that they have taken heart stimulants or heart 
depressants, and observe after a time the change 
in the pulse rates. Many of the hearts beat faster 
after the imaginary stimulant, and slower after 
the imaginary depressant, but what is more inter- 
