344 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



the sight or hearing of torture, of hairbreadth escapes, 

 and of ghosts — produces uncontrollable repulsion and 

 horror in some people, and to others (or even to the 

 same people when in another state of health or mental 

 balance) actually gives a pleasurable sensation (exquisite 

 shudderings, as the French say), so does the sight of 

 blood or even the mere hearing of the word " blood " act 

 differently on different people. Every one who has 

 witnessed a Spanish bull-fight knows that it is not any 

 desire for, or enjoyment of, the sight of pain which 

 excites the crowded mass of spectators. There is no 

 " cruelty," in the proper sense, in their state of mind, no 

 pleasure in witnessing pain — a thing which, terrible as it 

 is to think of, yet does exist naturally in mankind, and 

 has to be, and is, repressed and absolutely got rid of in 

 the course of the humanizing education of civilized man- 

 kind. The spectators of the Spanish bull-fight are 

 primarily under the spell or fascination of the sight of 

 blood, and in a less degree they are attracted by the 

 wonderful exhibition of skill and strength on the part 

 of the matador and his troop. The crowd excitedly 

 acclaims the first drops of blood which the splendid bull 

 is made to shed. They buy, after he has been killed, the 

 paper-winged darts smeared with his blood. The colour, 

 the mystery, and the magnificence of blood produces in 

 them a violent emotion. It is to them a delight, but 

 only a single step separates their delight from pain and 

 actual physical distress. The most absolutely nauseating 

 smells are very nearly identical with delightful perfumes, 

 and we all know how readily a taste may be acquired 

 converting the former into the latter — as in the case of 

 the (to most people) foul-smelling East Indian fruit, the 

 durian, and of rotten cheese and " high " game. We 

 also know that a sudden revulsion of " feeling " may 

 pccur in regard to hitherto approved smells and flavours, 



