Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 9.djvu/628

616 COEEESPONDENCE. and these feelings are accompanied by changes of general muscular activity as follows : Joy by indications of an increase to hypernormal activity ; Sorrow by indications of a decrease to a lower grade ; Dread by indications of a decrease to a subnormal activity ; Relief by indications of an increase from subnormal towards normal activity. Again : When an advantageous object is within reach we feel Love for it, and tend to move towards it. 1 When an enemy, weaker or well-matched, is within reach we are con- scious of the feeling of Anger and have a tendency to act to drive the object from us. When a stronger enemy approaches we experience the definite feeling of Fear and we fly from the object. This consideration at once suggests the query whether these Emotions may not be merely the feelings of the complex muscular actions with which they are connected. To draw conclusions of logical value from an argument resting so largely iipon hypothesis is manifestly impossible ; but the suggestion thus derived may prove valuable if it be found to be cor- roborated by observation in other directions. Upon examination we find the suggestion to be favoured by the facts (1) that the vividness of the feeling bears a direct relation to the strength of the muscular action ; (2) that each noticeable difference of action is accompanied by a difference 01 emotional feeling ;' 2 and (3) that a set of actions brought about by " acci- dent " or by " will " is accompanied by the same feelings which would be experienced were the acts such as are said to be caused by, or to express, the feelings. Can we draw conclusions from these results applicable to all Emotions ? The account given above evidently covers biit a part of the ground. The subject, however, cannot be adequately treated in small compass and cannot be attempted here, and although it might be carried much further 3 it is evident that we should be prevented from making any complete treatment on this line by the lack of accurate knowledge of the development of our race and of the conditions of our prehistoric ancestry. Notwithstanding the incompleteness of the results from the initial method, the evidence from the other sources had confirmed me in the belief that emotions are, at least in their greatest part, made up of muscular feelings, and in fact seemed sufficient to warrant the acceptance of this definite working hypothesis : All emotions are no more nor less than the feelings of the accompanying muscular actions. 1 If the definition of Love here implied be correct, it is evident that much feeling which goes by that name is only so called because of indirect combination or connexion with the feeling here described ; the connexion, and cause of identity of name, however, being assignable in all cases which I have examined. Sexual Love is a particular form of this general feeling differentiated by the presence of the tendency to act with sexual re- ference. 2 The feeling accompanying the crouching from before an enemy is not the same as that accompanying the flight from the enemy although ordi- narily each would be designated as Fear ; nor can Rage with its violent action be called the same feeling as Hatred with its quieter appearances. 3 Surprise, for instance, may be defined as the feeling of the muscular acts of efficient attention.