Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/365

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PAS

fually occafions his Generofity : The Defire of being eSeem'd by all in whofe Sight he is frequently, obiiges him to facrifke more reafonable Pleafures.

btherwife we fhould never have fuch Lengths gone. Again, Children don't mind the fame Things with grown People. Women look no farther than their Families and Neighbour- hood j But Men retain to their whole Country; 'tis for them to defend it; they mind Honours, Offices, &c. Nor is there a lefs Variety refulting from the different Circ urn fiances and Employments of People.
 * Tis thus throughout the World : Vanity animates Virtue,

The Difpofition of Mind in a married Man differs much from that ot a Batchelor. The People in Monasteries have both the Mind and Heart turn'd very differently from People who live in the World. They are united to much fewer Things; but then the Attachment is much clofer and flronger. Their Paffions move in a little Sphere; and like the Sun's Rays, in a convex Lens, are aflembled, as it were, in a Focus.

In every Paffion there may feven Things be diSinguifh'd : The firfi, the Judgement the Mind makes of an Object; or the View of the Relation the Objects bears to us. The fecond, a new Determination of the Motion of the Will towards that Ob- ject j fuppofing it to appear a good. The third, the peculiar Senfations Or Modifications which accompany them; as the Senfation of Love, Hatred, Defire, or Joy; which Senfations are always different in the different PafTions, and, as it were, the CnaracteriSicks thereof. The fourth, a new Determination of the Courfc of the Blood and Spirits, towards the feveral Parts of the Bod) : Before the Sight of the Object of the Paffion, the animal Spirits were pretty equally diffufed throughout the Body; but the Preience of the new Object diSurbs the whole OBconomy; and the greatelt Part of the Spirits are fent into the Mufcies of the Arms, Legs, face, g£e. Tla.fi fifth is the feniible Emotion of the Soui, which finds itfelf/haken by this fudden Over-flowing ot Spirits. Thejipetfo, is the different Senfations of Love, Hatred, use caus'd, not by the intellectual View of Good or Evil, but by the different Snakes or Pulfes, the animal Spirits occafiun in the Brain. The laft is a certain Senfation of Joy, orinward Satisfaction, which detains the Soul in its paffion, and attefts Its being in the State it ought to be With Regard to that Object.

Passions, in a View to Medicine, make one of the fix TtfOflrn&tW&ls, of the utmoft Confequence, with refpect to Health or Difeafe. See Non-natural.

In Confecjuence of the feveral Judgements we form concern- ing Objects, as either Good or Evil, the Organs of Senfation and Motion, viz. the nervous Fibres, are varioufly imprefs'd or Simulated 5 whence arife certain Senfations, and certain Modifications of Motion, which, 'tis apparent, are reciprocal, and follow mutually from each other, whether the Imprcffion be fuppofed firS made on the Body, or on the Mind : that is, anyftrong violent Motion made on the Organs, will excite a painful Senfation in the Mind; or any fuch painful Senfation firir excited in the Mind from the bare Confederation of an Ob- ject will imprefs a violent Motion on the Organs. And, on the contrary, an eafyand placid Undulation, imprefs'd origi- nally by the actual Impulfeof Objects, will excite a pleafurable Senfation in the Mind; or a pleafurable Senfation excited in the Mind, from the mere Contemplation of an Object, will be follow'd with a like eafy, placid Undulation of the Organs.

The painful Paffions, then, as well as bodily Pain, imprefs the nervous Fibres with a violent Motion which brings 'em alternately into forcible Contractions, and Dilatations, or Srengthens and increafes their mufcular Force, and Action. While then this Pain or Uneafinefs of Defire, annex'd to the Paffions, and imprefs'd on the Nerves, is moderate and re- Srain'd within the Bounds of Nature; Such Simulating De- fircs have a good Effect; as they Srengthen mufcular Motion, keep up the Circulation of the Blood, promote the natural Se- cretions, and excite a Man to fuch Actions and Excrcifes, wherein animal Life, Health, and Vigour confift. But where the Uneafinefs annex'd to the Paffion is too violent, fuch a continual StimtktsvilM gradually derive a too great Proportion of Blood to the Simulated Organs, by which the Veffels will be over-flretch'd, and diSended, their mufcular Force gradu- ally impair'd, and the Equilibrium of the Blood and Juices be interrupted. And hence, from a mere painful Senfation, will arife a complicated Train of bodily IllneiTes and Pains, in Con- fequence of the eftablifh'd Laws of the Union and Communi- cation of Soul and Body. 1

Again, while we are wearing off the Uneafiriefs of Defire, annex'd to any 2>0on, we feel a fenfible Pleafure, or agree- able Emotion; and the_ Organs, hereupon falling into eafy, uniform, placid Undulations, the too great Current of the Blood toward them is diverted, and the Equilibrium. re- Sored. As foon as the Uneafinefs is all gone, the Pleafure ceafes, and terminates in meer Indolence, which difpofes the Perfon to ReS and Inaction; till the Return of fome frefli Defire, Simulating to farther Action, renew the fame Succef- fion, and interchangeable Series of Pains and Pleafure.

And this is the Circle of animal Life : as the Stimulus of Defire throws off the Indolence of ReS, and excites to Action 5

So the Gratification moderates the Pain of Defire, creates a Pleafure at firS, and then terminates in the former Indolence and Inaction; till frefli Dcfires returning, Simulate to farther Action, and continue the fame Round.

Dr. Cheyne divides the Paffion, into Acute and Chronical; af- ter the fame Manner, and for the fame Reafon as Difeafes are fo divided.

The Acute Paffmis, whether pleafureable or painful, he obferves, have much the fame Effect, and operate after the fame Manner as Acute SJifeafes do. They effect a brisk Cir- culation of the Fluids, and conflringe the Solids for fome fhort Time. Thus, fudden gufts of Joy or Grief Simulate the Nervous Fibres, and the Coats of the Animal Tubes, and thereby give a greater Celerity to their included Fluids 5 and the Functions of the Heart and Lungs being involuntarj', they have their more neceffary and immediate ESects on them. Thus, both fudden Joy and Grief make us Breath fhort and quick, and render the Pulfe fmall and frequent. Tho' retaining our Breath iorntime to reflect more intenicly on any painful Object, forces at length a Srcng Expiration, which becomes a Sigh. Thus a fudden painful Idea, making a quick Circulation, and thereby throwing a great quantity of Blood upward, makes it appear in the fuperficial Vcffels of the Face, Neck, and Ereaif, and fb produces a Slufii. The fame Principles will account for the effects of Fear and Anger, which make us change Colour, and look Red or 'Pale as the Blood is accelerated or retarded in its Courfe. Sudden, and great Fear do fo convulfe the Nervous SySem, that they fometimes alter the Pofitionof the Parts : Thus the Hair fhali Sand an end in a Fright, and the Nerves be render'd fo ftiff and rigid, as to Sop at once the Animal Functions, whence Fainting, and fometimes Death.

Chronical 'Paffions, waSe the Nervous Syflcm gradually. Thofe Nerves employ *d inconfidering, brooding over, and fix- ing fuch a Set of Ideas in the Imagination, muS be wom out and impair'd; and the reft, by difufe, render'd refly and un- active, iiielefs and deSituteof a fumcient Flux of warm Blood and due Nourifhment. Thus does long Grief, dark Melan- cholly, hopelefs Love, over Weening, Pride, d$ic, impair the Habit; and fometimes when long indulged, terminate in Mad- nels; the Reafon is, that a confiant Habit of fixing one Thing in the Imagination, begets a ready Difpofition in the Nerves, to produce again the fame Image, till the Thought of it become Spontaneous and Natural, like Breathing, or ths Motion of the Heart. Thus the Faquirs in India fix one or both Hands by long holding 'em up, fo as that they cannot bring them down again. Efijay of Health, &c.

But Dr. Jlfcrgan feems to have gone almoS beyond any Body in explaining the Orgin, and effects of the Pafiions. .

From a Courfe of actual Observations of the feveral Pheno- mena in the Body, which attend the feveral Paffions, viz. The State of the Pulfe, Refpiration, Warmth, DigeSion, & c. that ingenious Author thefe general Conclusions :

I. That all the grateful, or pleafurable Paffions raife the vital Tide, Srengthcn and quicken the Pulfe, diffufe the na- tural Heat, and take off any antecedent Stimulus, or Preflure upon the Abdomen and inferior Organs : And, on the con- trary, the painful paffions fink and deprefs the Blood, weaken the Pulfe, recall and concenter the natural Heat, and fix a Stir r.ntlus or Compreffion on the inferior Organs.

II. AW the Paffions imprefs their characteriflick Senfations, or Modifications of Pleafure and Pain, efpecially upon the OeJbfhagUS, and upper Orifice of the Stomach.

III. That they imprefs their different Modifications on the Mufcies of the Larynx, and thus difcovcr themfelves by the dif- ferent Modulation and Tone of the Voice.

And hence he infers, that the Nerves of the eighth Conju- gation, or ParVagam, are the principal Instruments of the Paffions; by means whereof, they are varioufly imprefs'd, modified, and organized : Thefe, therefore, which are dif- perfed to all Parts of the Breaft and Abdomen, particularly the Heart, Lungs, Stomach, Liver, Oefofhagus, Diaphragm, In- teftines, the Organs of Generation, &c. he confiders as Pathe- ticks of the firfi Order; the Inter cofi at, which accompanies all thcDivifions of the Par Vagum, he calls Pathettcks of 'th» fecona Order: The Nerves which ferve the Mufcies employ'd in Refpiration, and have the neareft Communication with thofe of the Par Vagum, by means of the IntercoSal, he calls Pa- theticks of the third Order; and, the Nerves which immediately difpenfe Senfe and Motion to the feveral Parts of the Head, and have a remoter Communication with thePar Vagum, ihtpa* theticks of the fourth Order. See Nerve.

According to this Gradation, then, the Organs which are immediately fupplied with Nerves from the Par Va%um, or Pathettcks of the firfi Order will be firS affected in the Pafi fions, and with the fmalleS Degree of imprefs'd Motion, with which the Parts communicating immediately with the inter- coSal, or fecond Order ofpatheticks, keep Pace and are af-

fetfed