to nerve-force readily flowing along accustomed channels, and by the
power of inheritance. Whenever we believe that others are depreciating
or even considering our personal appearance, our attention is vividly
directed to the outer and visible parts of our bodies; and of all such
parts we are most sensitive about our faces, as no doubt has been the
case during many past generations. Therefore, assuming for the moment
that the capillary vessels can be acted on by close attention, those of
the face will have become eminently susceptible. Through the force of
association, the same effects will tend to follow whenever we think
that others are considering or censuring our actions or character.
As the basis of this theory rests on mental attention having some power
to influence the capillary circulation, it will be necessary to give a
considerable body of details, bearing more or less directly on this
subject. Several observers,[1333] who from their wide experience and
knowledge are eminently capable of forming a sound judgment, are
convinced that attention or consciousness (which latter term Sir H.
Holland thinks the more explicit) concentrated on almost any part of
the body produces some direct physical effect on it. This applies to
the movements of the involuntary muscles, and of the voluntary muscles
when acting involuntarily, to the secretion of the glands, to the
activity of the senses and sensations, and even to the nutrition of
parts.
It is known that the involuntary movements of the heart are affected if
close attention be paid to them. Gratiolet[1334] gives the case of a
man, who by continually watching and counting his own pulse, at last
caused one beat out of every six to intermit. On the other hand, my
father told me of a careful observer, who certainly had heart-disease
and died from it, and who positively stated that his pulse was
habitually irregular to an extreme degree; yet to his great
disappointment it invariably became regular as soon as my father
entered the room. Sir H. Holland remarks, that the effect upon the
circulation of a part from the consciousness suddenly directed and
fixed upon it, is often obvious and immediate. Professor Laycock, who
has particularly attended to phenomena of this nature, insists that
when the attention is directed to any portion of the body, innervation
and circulation are excited locally, and the functional activity of
that portion developed.
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