PHYSIOLOGY OF THE PASSIONS. 557 



nature of the nerve-connections of the heart with the brain were as yet 

 unknown, and a Russian physiologist, E. Cyon, has, for some years 

 past, labored successfully to, fill up this gap. The heart is provided 

 with a number of little self-acting nerve-ganglia, without relations to 

 the brain, from which spring, under the influence of the blood, a cer- 

 tain number of motor impulsions. These ganglia govern the usual 

 normal action of the cardiac apparatus ; but the rhythm and the force 

 of the beatings are every instant modified by excitations having their 

 origin in the brain. The latter organ sends out to the ganglia of the 

 heart two sets of nerves — the pneumogastric, or retardator, and the 

 accelerator nerves. Excitation of the former diminishes the frequency 

 and augments the force of the heart's movements. The accelerator 

 nerves produce the opposite result, increasing the number and lessen- 

 ing the force of the heart's contractions. These two sets of nerves 

 accommodate the activity of the heart to that of the rest of the organ- 

 ism, and hold it in equilibrium with the continual oscillations of the 

 various functions of body and soul. Besides these filaments, extending 

 from the brain to the heart, there are others from the heart to the 

 brain, which M. Cyon calls depressors. The office of these nerves is 

 to notify the brain, and consequently the soul, of the changes occur- 

 ring in the rhythm and energy of the cardiac contractions. Thus, in 

 virtue of the pneumogastric and the accelerator nerves, the heart is an 

 organ whereon is reflected, immediately and with precision, every pas- 

 sional state, with its nicest shades of distinction. And, on the other 

 hand, in virtue of the depressor-nerves, our consciousness notes the 

 infinitely-diverse oscillations of the heart's beatings attendant on pas- 

 sional states. The mechanism of the heart's motions under passion 

 depends on these two inverse nerve-currents. 



Every agreeable or joyous emotion of the soul excites the accel- 

 erator nerves of the heart, and causes that organ to beat with great 

 rapidity, lessening at the same time the force of its contractions. The 

 phrases, the heart leaps with joy, or flutters with joy, admirably char- 

 acterize this action of the accelerator nerves. The facility with which 

 the heart drives the blood into the arteries, under such circumstances, 

 produces that feeling of comfort and pleasure which is expressed by 

 the words, a light heart. On the other hand, all sad or painful feel- 

 ings act chiefly on the retardator fibres of the pneumogastric nerves. 

 Emotions of this description diminish the rapidity of the heart's beat- 

 ings, and so increase the amount of blood discharged from that organ 

 at each diastole ; hence the contractions by which it drives the blood 

 into the vessels are laborious and protracted. These contractions, at- 

 tended as they are with pain, give rise to an ensemble of sensations, 

 expressed in common language by such phrases as oppression of the 

 heart, the heart is agonized, etc. That other phrase, the heart is ready 

 to burst, expresses, with great exactitude, the sensation of stricture 

 one feels when suffering from pent-up anguish. The news of some 



