compressed, or more commonly the lips are retracted, with the teeth
clenched or ground together. There is said to be gnashing of teeth in
hell; and I have plainly heard the grinding of the molar teeth of a cow
which was suffering acutely from inflammation of the bowels. The female
hippopotamus in the Zoological Gardens, when she produced her young,
suffered greatly; she incessantly walked about, or rolled on her sides,
opening and closing her jaws, and clattering her teeth together.[304]
With man the eyes stare wildly as in horrified astonishment, or the
brows are heavily contracted. Perspiration bathes the body, and drops
trickle down the face. The circulation and respiration are much
affected. Hence the nostrils are generally dilated and often quiver; or
the breath may be held until the blood stagnates in the purple face. If
the agony be severe and prolonged, these signs all change; utter
prostration follows, with fainting or convulsions.
A sensitive nerve when irritated transmits some influence to the
nerve-cell, whence it proceeds; and this transmits its influence, first
to the corresponding nerve-cell on the opposite side of the body, and
then upwards and downwards along the cerebro-spinal column to other
nerve-cells, to a greater or less extent, according to the strength of
the excitement; so that, ultimately, the whole nervous system maybe
affected.[305] This involuntary transmission of nerve-force may or may
not be accompanied by consciousness. Why the irritation of a nerve-cell
should generate or liberate nerve-force is not known; but that this is
the case seems to be the conclusion arrived at by all the greatest
physiologists, such as Muller, Virchow, Bernard, &c.[306] As Mr.
Herbert Spencer remarks, it may be received as an unquestionable truth
that, at any moment, the existing quantity of liberated nerve-force,
which in an inscrutable way produces in us the state we call feeling,
MUST expend itself in some direction MUST generate an equivalent
manifestation of force somewhere; so that, when the cerebro-spinal
system is highly excited and nerve-force is liberated in excess, it may
be expended in intense sensations, active thought, violent movements,
or increased activity of the glands.[307] Mr. Spencer further maintains
that an overflow of nerve-force, undirected by any motive, will
manifestly take the most habitual routes; and, if these do not suffice,
will next overflow into the less habitual ones. Consequently the
facial and respiratory muscles, which are the most used, will be apt to
be first brought into action; then those of the upper extremities, next
those of the lower, and finally those of the whole body.[308]
48