Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/136

 Il8 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

tension tends to induce contractions in these outwardly act ing muscles, and in this way the feeling may express itself through them to other persons. A feeling of any kind which involves an organic disturbance of much intensity is likely to lead to some appropriate movement of the arms and legs. If the inward disturbance is very great it is al most certain to result in a wild or aimless flinging about of the arms or stamping of the feet, or induce a trembling of the entire muscular system which affects the whole bodily frame. If the emotion is depressing, it will produce relax ation, and then the body will droop or sway and seem about to collapse. A deep feeling often leads to the utterance of a cry or a moan. A comparatively slight organic disturb ance may induce the contraction of the facial muscles, which accounts for the fact that changes in the countenance are among the surest indications of feeling in all degrees of intensity. It is clear, then, that those parts of our muscu lature which are not immediately involved in the feeling ex perience may become very effective expressions of feeling to others. But it should be borne in mind that the expres sion through any of the larger muscles of the external group is really a discharge of the feeling. The energy expended in the movements of the arms and legs, especially, is so much subtracted from the inward organic contractions with which the feeling-tones are immediately connected. This may be true even as to the expressions through the contrac tion of the facial muscles ; but in this case the effect is too slight to be of significance. The principle may be briefly formulated thus : the more demonstration through the ex ternal muscles those of the arms and legs and vocal or gans the less becomes the internal tension, and the lower the feeling-tones. Such demonstrations not only express and therefore relieve feelings of great intensity; but, if in dulged in before intense feelings have been developed, may also prevent them.

In this connection arises the very interesting question which has been much discussed by psychologists, to what

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