highly expressive of this condition.
As the mere touching of a sensitive nerve reacts in a direct manner on
the heart, severe pain will obviously react on it in like manner, but
far more energetically. Nevertheless, even in this case, we must not
overlook the indirect effects of habit on the heart, as we shall see
when we consider the signs of rage.
When a man suffers from an agony of pain, the perspiration often
trickles down his face; and I have been assured by a veterinary surgeon
that he has frequently seen drops falling from the belly and running
down the inside of the thighs of horses, and from the bodies of cattle,
when thus suffering. He has observed this, when there has been no
struggling which would account for the perspiration. The whole body of
the female hippopotamus, before alluded to, was covered with
red-coloured perspiration whilst giving birth to her young. So it is
with extreme fear; the same veterinary has often seen horses sweating
from this cause; as has Mr. Bartlett with the rhinoceros; and with man
it is a well-known symptom. The cause of perspiration bursting forth in
these cases is quite obscure; but it is thought by some physiologists
to be connected with the failing power of the capillary circulation;
and we know that the vasomotor system, which regulates the capillary
circulation, is much influenced by the mind. With respect to the
movements of certain muscles of the face under great suffering, as well
as from other emotions, these will be best considered when we treat of
the special expressions of man and of the lower animals.
We will now turn to the characteristic symptoms of Rage. Under this
powerful emotion the action of the heart is much accelerated,[309] or
it may be much disturbed. The face reddens, or it becomes purple from
the impeded return of the blood, or may turn deadly pale. The
respiration is laboured, the chest heaves, and the dilated nostrils
quiver. The whole body often trembles. The voice is affected. The teeth
are clenched or ground together, and the muscular system is commonly
stimulated to violent, almost frantic action. But the gestures of a man
in this state usually differ from the purposeless writhings and
struggles of one suffering from an agony of pain; for they represent
more or less plainly the act of striking or fighting with an enemy.
All these signs of rage are probably in large part, and some of them
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