a fierce mob, Am I afraid? feel my pulse. So a man may intensely hate
another, but until his bodily frame is affected, he cannot be said to
be enraged.
_Rage_. I have already had occasion to treat of this emotion in the
third chapter, when discussing the direct influence of the excited
sensorium on the body, in combination with the effects of habitually
associated actions. Rage exhibits itself in the most diversified
manner. The heart and circulation are always affected; the face reddens
or becomes purple, with the veins on the forehead and neck distended.
The reddening of the skin has been observed with the copper-coloured
Indians of South America,[1002] and even, as it is said, on the white
cicatrices left by old wounds on negroes.[1003] Monkeys also redden
from passion. With one of my own infants, under four months old, I
repeatedly observed that the first symptom of an approaching passion
was the rushing of the blood into his bare scalp. On the other hand,
the action of the heart is sometimes so much impeded by great rage,
that the countenance becomes pallid or livid,[1004] and not a few men
with heart-disease have dropped down dead under this powerful emotion.
The respiration is likewise affected; the chest heaves, and the dilated
nostrils quiver.[1005] As Tennyson writes, sharp breaths of anger
puffed her fairy nostrils out. Hence we have such expressions as
breathing out vengeance, and fuming with anger. [1006]
The excited brain gives strength to the muscles, and at the same time
energy to the will. The body is commonly held erect ready for instant
action, but sometimes it is bent forward towards the offending person,
with the limbs more or less rigid. The mouth is generally closed with
firmness, showing fixed determination, and the teeth are clenched or
ground together. Such gestures as the raising of the arms, with the
fists clenched, as if to strike the offender, are common. Few men in a
great passion, and telling some one to begone, can resist acting as if
they intended to strike or push the man violently away. The desire,
indeed, to strike often becomes so intolerably strong, that inanimate
objects are struck or dashed to the ground; but the gestures frequently
become altogether purposeless or frantic. Young children, when in a
violent rage roll on the ground on their backs or bellies, screaming,
kicking, scratching, or biting everything within reach. So it is, as I
hear from Mr. Scott, with Hindoo children; and, as we have seen, with
158