directions which have never been practised. Analogous cases occur with
sensations, as in the common experiment of rolling a marble beneath the
tips of two crossed fingers, when it feels exactly like two marbles.
Everyone protects himself when falling to the ground by extending his
arms, and as Professor Alison has remarked, few can resist acting thus,
when voluntarily falling on a soft bed. A man when going out of doors
puts on his gloves quite unconsciously; and this may seem an extremely
simple operation, but he who has taught a child to put on gloves, knows
that this is by no means the case.
When our minds are much affected, so are the movements of our bodies;
but here another principle besides habit, namely the undirected
overflow of nerve-force, partially comes into play. Norfolk, in
speaking of Cardinal Wolsey, says
Some strange commotion
Is in his brain; he bites his lip and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
Then, lays his finger on his temple: straight,
Springs out into fast gait; then, stops again,
Strikes his breast hard; and anon, he casts
His eye against the moon: in most strange postures
We have seen him set himself. _Hen. VIII_., act iii, sc. 2.
A vulgar man often scratches his head when perplexed in mind; and I
believe that he acts thus from habit, as if he experienced a slightly
uncomfortable bodily sensation, namely, the itching of his head, to
which he is particularly liable, and which he thus relieves. Another
man rubs his eyes when perplexed, or gives a little cough when
embarrassed, acting in either case as if he felt a slightly
uncomfortable sensation in his eyes or windpipe.[106]
From the continued use of the eyes, these organs are especially liable
to be acted on through association under various states of the mind,
although there is manifestly nothing to be seen. A man, as Gratiolet
remarks, who vehemently rejects a proposition, will almost certainly
shut his eyes or turn away his face; but if he accepts the proposition,
he will nod his head in affirmation and open his eyes widely. The man
acts in this latter case as if he clearly saw the thing, and in the
26