violent emotions, diversified results. The heart beats wildly, or may
fail to act and faintness ensue; there is a death-like pallor; the
breathing is laboured; the wings of the nostrils are wildly dilated;
there is a gasping and convulsive motion of the lips, a tremor on the
hollow cheek, a gulping and catching of the throat; [1217] the
uncovered and protruding eyeballs are fixed on the object of terror; or
they may roll restlessly from side to side, _huc illuc volvens oculos
totumque pererrat_.[1218] The pupils are said to be enormously dilated.
All the muscles of the body may become rigid, or may be thrown into
convulsive movements. The hands are alternately clenched and opened,
often with a twitching movement. The arms may be protruded, as if to
avert some dreadful danger, or may be thrown wildly over the head. The
Rev. Mr. Hagenauer has seen this latter action in a terrified
Australian. In other cases there is a sudden and uncontrollable
tendency to headlong flight; and so strong is this, that the boldest
soldiers may be seized with a sudden panic.
As fear rises to an extreme pitch, the dreadful scream of terror is
heard. Great beads of sweat stand on the skin. All the muscles of the
body are relaxed. Utter prostration soon follows, and the mental powers
fail. The intestines are affected. The sphincter muscles cease to act,
and no longer retain the contents of the body.
Photograph of an Insane Woman. Fig. 19
Dr. J. Crichton Browne has given me so striking an account of intense
fear in an insane woman, aged thirty-five, that the description though
painful ought not to be omitted. When a paroxysm seizes her, she
screams out, This is hell! There is a black woman! I can t get
out! and other such exclamations. When thus screaming, her movements
are those of alternate tension and tremor. For one instant she clenches
her hands, holds her arms out before her in a stiff semi-flexed
position; then suddenly bends her body forwards, sways rapidly to and
fro, draws her fingers through her hair, clutches at her neck, and
tries to tear off her clothes. The sterno-cleido-mastoid muscles (which
serve to bend the head on the chest) stand out prominently, as if
swollen, and the skin in front of them is much wrinkled. Her hair,
which is cut short at the back of her head, and is smooth when she is
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