Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 31.djvu/837

Rh a breath, or a slight motion of the pot made them droop. Those plants which had a third or two thirds of vegetable mold were still irritable, but in a less degree, and would not bloom. Those which had pure vegetable earth became robust and nearly insensitive; striking their leaves with a stick, would make them double up, but they would unfold again almost in an instant.

Besides the general excitation of the cerebral centers, the ganglionic nerves, the circulation, and nutrition, emotion produces a general excitation of the motor nerves and the muscles. According to Mr. Spencer, the excitation of the muscular system should be proportional to the intensity of the feeling, whatever may be its character in other respects; a great joy, like a great grief, should move the whole body. Moreover, Mr. Spencer adds, the force of the passion affects the muscles in the inverse ratio of their size and of the weight of the parts to which they are attached. With the clog and cat, the mobility of the tail makes it capable of furnishing, from its origin, the indication of the rising feeling. The greater or less elevation of the tail is a sign of pleasure; its sidewise beatings, of uneasiness. With man, the muscles of the face are relatively small and very mobile, and for this reason the countenance is the best index of the degree of intensity in feeling; and the ear, motionless in man, is a marked organ of expression in the horse.

The real defect of the theory expounded by Mr. Spencer is, that it is too purely physiological; it has not taken sufficient account of the different effects produced according as the emotions are agreeable or painful. According to his view, the energy of the feeling, whatever may be its nature, is always manifested by an energy of movement. We dance, he says, with joy, as we stamp with rage; we can no more keep still under moral distress than in the exaltation of delight; there are cries of anguish as well as notes of pleasure; and frequently the sounds uttered by children in their sports leave parents in doubt whether vexation or pleasure is their motive. Granted; yet these various manifestations of activity have a resemblance only in the eyes of a distant or superficial spectator. It is hard to suppose that pleasure and pain are primarily manifested by an identical general augmentation of activity.

If the physiologists had considered the emotions in their psychological elements, they would have been better able to account for their manifestations, and would not have involved themselves in an inextricable confusion. In all passion there is first an intellectual element—perception or idea; next a sensible element—pleasure or pain; and, finally, a volitional element—desire or aversion. We must, then, to account completely for an expressive motion, seek first the sensitive and mental state which it expresses; second, the affective state; and, third, the corresponding attitude of the will.

Some psychologists, with Herbart, have locked for the primary