Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The physiology of laughter. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![discliarge is never absolutely al)seiit from any one of tlio three. There is, however, variety in the proportions in whicli the discharge is divided among those dilfe- rent channels under dilferent circum- stances. In a man whose fear impels him to run, the mental tension gemerated is only in part transformed into a mus- cular stimulus ; there is a surplus which onuses a rapid current of ideas. The agreeable state of feeling produced, say by praise, is not wholly used up in arousing the succeeding phase of the feeling, and the new ideas appropriate to it; but a certain portion overflows into the visceral nervmis system, increasing the action of the heart, mid probably facilitating digestion. And here wo come upon a class of considerations and facts which open the way to a solution of our special problem. For starting with the unquestionable assumption, that at any moment the existing (quantity of liberated nerve- force, which in an inscrutable way pro- duces in us the state we call feeling, rmist expend itself in some direction— must generate an equivalent manifesta- tion of force somewhere — it clearly follows that, if of the several channels it may take, one is wholly or partially closed, more must be taken by the others ; or if two are closed, the discharge along the remaining one must be more intense; and that, conversely, should any- thing determine an unusual efflux in one direction, there will be a diminished efflux in other directions. Daily experience illustrates these con- clusions. It is commonly remarked, that the suppression of external signs of feeling, makes feeling more intense. The deepest grief is that which makes no violent display. Wliyf Because the ner- vous excitement not discharged in mus- cular action, discharges itself in other nervous excitements — arouses more numerous and more remote associations of melancholy ideas, and so increases the mass of feelings. People who con- ceal their anger are habitually found to bear stronger feelings of animosity than those who explode in loud speech and vehement action. Why ? Because, as before, the emotion is reflected back, accumulates, and grows more intense. 8i]iiilarly, men wlio, as proved by their powers of rej)resentation, have tlu' keenest appreciation of the comic, arc. usually able to do and say the most ludicrous things with perfect gravity. On the other liand, all are familiar with the trutli that bodily activity deadens emotion. Under great irrita- tion wo get relief by walking about rapidly. Extreme efibrt in the bootless attempt to achieve a desired end, very greatly diminishes the intensity of tlu^ desire. Those who are forced to exert themselves after a misfortune, do not suffer nearly so much as those who remain quiescent. If any one wishes to check intellectual excitement, he can- not choose a more efficient method tlian running until he is exhausted. More- over,these cases, in which the production of feeling and thought is hindered by determining the nervous energy towards bodily movements, have their counter- parts in the cases in which bodily niovu^- ments are hindered by an extra absorption of nervous energy in sudden thoughts and feelings. If, when walking along, there flashes upon you an idea that creates great surprise, hope, or alarm, you stop; or, if sitting cross-legged, swinging your pendent foot, the move- ment is at once arrested. From the viscera, too, intense mental action ab- stracts energy. Joy, disappointment, anxiety, or any moral excitement rising to a great height, will destroy appetite, or if food has been taken, will arrest digestion; and even a purely intellectual activity, when extreme, will do the like. Facts, then, fully bear out these a priori inferences, that the nervous ex- citement at any moment present to con- sciousness as feeling, must expend itself in some way or other ; that of the thret; classes of chamiels open to it, it must take one, tw’o, or more, according to circumstances ; that the closure or ob- struction of one, must increase the dis- charge tlirough the others, and conversely, that if to answer some demand, tlu: efflux of nervous energy in one direc- tion is unusually great, there must be a](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2246797x_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
