Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

Phase Of

The Feeling, And The   New Ideas Appropriate To It; But A Certain Portion

Overflows Into The   Visceral Nervous System, Increasing The   Action Of    The

Heart, And Probably Facilitating Digestion. And Here We Come Upon A

Class Of    Considerations And Facts Which Open The   Way To A Solution Of

Our Special Problem.

 

 

 

For Starting With The   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--It Clearly Follows That, If Of    The   Several Channels It May

Take, One Is Wholly Or Partially Closed, More Must Be Taken By The

Others; Or That If Two Are Closed, The   Discharge Along The   Remaining One

Must Be More Intense; And That, Conversely, Should Anything Determine An

Unusual Efflux In One Direction, There Will Be A Diminished Efflux In

Other Directions.

 

 

 

Daily Experience Illustrates These Conclusions. It Is Commonly Remarked,

That The   Suppression Of    External Signs Of    Feeling, Makes Feeling More

Intense. The   Deepest Grief Is Silent Grief. Why? Because The   Nervous

Excitement Not Discharged In Muscular Action, Discharges Itself In Other

Nervous Excitements--Arouses More Numerous And More Remote Associations

Of Melancholy Ideas, And So Increases The   Mass Of    Feelings. People Who

Conceal Their Anger Are Habitually Found To Be More Revengeful Than

Those Who Explode In Loud Speech And Vehement Action. Why? Because, As

Before, The   Emotion Is Reflected Back, Accumulates, And Intensifies.

Similarly, Men Who, As Proved By Their Powers Of    Representation, Have

The Keenest Appreciation Of    The   Comic, Are Usually Able To Do And Say

The Most Ludicrous Things With Perfect Gravity.

 

 

 

On The   Other Hand, All Are Familiar With The   Truth That Bodily Activity

Deadens Emotion. Under Great Irritation We Get Relief By Walking About

Rapidly. Extreme Effort In The   Bootless Attempt To Achieve A Desired

End Greatly Diminishes The   Intensity Of    The   Desire. Those Who Are Forced

To Exert Themselves After Misfortunes, Do Not Suffer Nearly So Much As

Those Who Remain Quiescent. If Any One Wishes To Check Intellectual

Excitement, He Cannot Choose A More Efficient Method Than Running Till

He Is Exhausted. Moreover, These Cases, In Which The   Production Of

Feeling And Thought Is Hindered By Determining The   Nervous Energy

Towards Bodily Movements, Have Their Counterparts In The   Cases In Which

Bodily Movements Are Hindered By Extra Absorption Of    Nervous Energy In

Sudden Thoughts And Feelings. If, When Walking Along, There Flashes On

Part 2 Chapter 4 (On The Physiology Of Laughter) Pg 122

You An Idea That Creates Great Surprise, Hope, Or Alarm, You Stop; Or If

Sitting Cross-Legged, Swinging Your Pendent Foot, The   Movement Is At

Once Arrested. From The   Viscera, Too, Intense Mental Action Abstracts

Energy. Joy, Disappointment, Anxiety, Or Any Moral Perturbation Rising

To A Great Height, Will Destroy Appetite; Or If Food Has Been Taken,

Will Arrest Digestion; And Even A Purely Intellectual Activity, When

Extreme, Will Do The   Like.

 

 

 

Facts, Then, Fully Bear Out These _À Priori_ Inferences, That The

Nervous Excitement At Any Moment Present To Consciousness As Feeling,

Must Expend Itself In Some Way Or Other; That Of    The   Three Classes Of

Channels Open To It, It Must Take One, Two, Or More, According To

Circumstances; That The   Closure Or Obstruction Of    One, Must Increase The

Discharge Through The   Others; And Conversely, That If To Answer Some

Demand, The   Efflux Of    Nervous Energy In One Direction Is Unusually

Great, There Must Be A Corresponding Decrease Of    The   Efflux In Other

Directions. Setting Out From These Premises, Let Us Now See What

Interpretation Is To Be Put On The   Phenomena Of    Laughter.

 

 

 

That Laughter Is A Display Of    Muscular Excitement, And So Illustrates

The General Law That Feeling Passing A Certain Pitch Habitually Vents

Itself In Bodily Action, Scarcely Needs Pointing Out. It Perhaps Needs

Pointing Out, However, That Strong Feeling Of    Almost Any Kind Produces

This Result. It Is Not A Sense Of    The   Ludicrous, Only, Which Does It;

Nor Are The   Various Forms Of    Joyous Emotion The   Sole Additional Causes.

We Have, Besides, The   Sardonic Laughter And The   Hysterical Laughter,

Which Result From Mental Distress; To Which Must Be Added Certain

Sensations, As Tickling, And, According To Mr. Bain, Cold, And Some

Kinds Of    Acute Pain.

 

 

 

Strong Feeling, Mental Or Physical, Being, Then, The   General Cause Of

Laughter, We Have To Note That The   Muscular Actions Constituting It Are

Distinguished From Most Others By This, That They Are Purposeless. In

General, Bodily Motions That Are Prompted By Feelings Are Directed To

Special Ends; As When We Try To Escape A Danger, Or Struggle To Secure A

Gratification. But The   Movements Of    Chest And Limbs Which We Make When

Laughing Have No Object. And Now Remark That These Quasi-Convulsive

Contractions Of    The   Muscles, Having No Object, But Being Results Of    An

Uncontrolled Discharge Of    Energy, We May See Whence Arise Their Special

Characters--How It Happens That Certain Classes Of    Muscles Are Affected

First, And Then Certain Other Classes. For An Overflow Of    Nerve-Force,

Undirected By Any Motive, Will Manifestly Take First The   Most Habitual

Routes; And If These Do Not Suffice, Will Next Overflow Into The   Less

Habitual Ones. Well, It Is Through The   Organs Of    Speech That Feeling

Passes Into Movement With The   Greatest Frequency. The   Jaws, Tongue, And

Lips Are Used Not Only To Express Strong Irritation Or Gratification;

But That Very Moderate Flow Of    Mental Energy Which Accompanies Ordinary

Conversation, Finds Its Chief Vent Through This Channel. Hence It

Happens That Certain Muscles Round The   Mouth, Small And Easy To Move,

Are The   First To Contract Under Pleasurable Emotion. The   Class Of

Muscles Which, Next After Those Of    Articulation, Are Most Constantly Set

In Action (Or Extra Action, We Should Say) By Feelings Of    All Kinds, Are

Those Of    Respiration. Under Pleasurable Or Painful Sensations We Breathe

More Rapidly: Possibly As A Consequence Of    The   Increased Demand For

Oxygenated Blood. The   Sensations That Accompany Exertion Also Bring On

Hard-Breathing; Which Here More Evidently Responds To The   Physiological

Needs. And Emotions, Too, Agreeable And Disagreeable, Both, At First,

Excite Respiration; Though The   Last Subsequently Depress It. That Is To

Say, Of    The   Bodily Muscles, The   Respiratory Are More Constantly

Implicated Than Any Others In Those Various Acts Which Our Feelings

Impel Us To; And, Hence, When There Occurs An Undirected Discharge Of

Nervous Energy Into The   Muscular System, It Happens That, If The

Quantity Be Considerable, It Convulses Not Only Certain Of    The

Articulatory And Vocal Muscles, But Also Those Which Expel Air From The

Lungs.

 

 

 

Should The   Feeling To Be Expended Be Still Greater In Amount--Too Great

To Find Vent In These Classes Of    Muscles--Another Class Comes Into Play.

The Upper Limbs Are Set In Motion. Children Frequently Clap Their Hands

In Glee; By Some Adults The   Hands Are Rubbed Together; And Others, Under

Still Greater Intensity Of    Delight, Slap Their Knees And Sway Their

Bodies Backwards And Forwards. Last Of    All, When The   Other Channels For

The Escape Of    The   Surplus Nerve-Force Have Been Filled To Overflowing, A

Yet Further And Less-Used Group Of    Muscles Is Spasmodically Affected:

The Head Is Thrown Back And The   Spine Bent Inwards--There Is A Slight

Degree Of    What Medical Men Call Opisthotonos. Thus, Then, Without

Contending That The   Phenomena Of    Laughter In All Their Details Are To Be

So Accounted For, We See That In Their _Ensemble_ They Conform To These

General Principles:--That Feeling Excites To Muscular Action; That When

The Muscular Action Is Unguided By A Purpose, The   Muscles First Affected

Are Those Which Feeling Most Habitually Stimulates; And That As The

Feeling To Be Expended Increases In Quantity, It Excites An Increasing

Number Of    Muscles, In A Succession Determined By The   Relative Frequency

With Which They Respond To The   Regulated Dictates Of    Feeling.

 

 

 

There Still, However, Remains The   Question With Which We Set Out. The

Explanation Here Given Applies Only To The   Laughter Produced By Acute

Pleasure Or Pain: It Does Not Apply To The   Laughter That Follows Certain

Perceptions Of    Incongruity. It Is An Insufficient Explanation That, In

These Cases, Laughter Is A Result Of    The   Pleasure We Take In Escaping

From The   Restraint Of    Grave Feelings. That This Is A Part-Cause Is True.

Doubtless Very Often, As Mr. Bain Says, "It Is The   Coerced Form Of

Seriousness And Solemnity Without The   Reality That Gives Us That Stiff

Position From Which A Contact With Triviality Or Vulgarity Relieves Us,

To Our Uproarious Delight." And In So Far As Mirth Is Caused By The   Gush

Of Agreeable Feeling That Follows The   Cessation Of    Mental Strain, It

Further Illustrates The   General Principle Above Set Forth. But No

Explanation Is Thus Afforded Of    The   Mirth Which Ensues When The   Short

Silence Between The   _Andante_ And _Allegro_ In One Of    Beethoven's

Symphonies, Is Broken By A Loud Sneeze. In This, And Hosts Of    Like

Cases, The   Mental Tension Is Not Coerced But Spontaneous--Not

Disagreeable But Agreeable; And The   Coming Impressions To Which The

Attention Is Directed, Promise A Gratification That Few, If Any, Desire

To Escape. Hence, When The   Unlucky Sneeze Occurs, It Cannot Be That The

Laughter Of    The   Audience Is Due Simply To The   Release From An Irksome

Attitude Of    Mind: Some Other Cause Must Be Sought.

 

Part 2 Chapter 4 (On The Physiology Of Laughter) Pg 123

This Cause We Shall Arrive At By Carrying Our Analysis A Step Further.

We Have But To Consider The   Quantity Of    Feeling That Exists Under Such

Circumstances, And Then To Ask What Are The   Conditions That Determine

The Direction Of    Its Discharge, To At Once Reach A Solution. Take A

Case. You Are Sitting In A Theatre, Absorbed In The   Progress Of    An

Interesting Drama. Some Climax Has Been Reached Which Has Aroused Your

Sympathies--Say, A Reconciliation Between The   Hero And Heroine, After

Long And Painful Misunderstanding. The   Feelings Excited By This Scene

Are Not Of    A Kind From Which You Seek Relief; But Are, On The   Contrary,

A Grateful Relief From The   Painful Feelings With Which You Have

Witnessed The   Previous Estrangement. Moreover, The   Sentiments These

Fictitious Personages Have For The   Moment Inspired You With, Are Not

Such As Would Lead You To Rejoice In Any Indignity Offered To Them; But

Rather, Such As Would Make You Resent The   Indignity. And Now, While You

Are Contemplating The   Reconciliation With A Pleasurable Sympathy, There

Appears From Behind The   Scenes A Tame Kid, Which, Having Stared Round At

The Audience, Walks Up To The   Lovers And Sniffs At Them. You Cannot Help

Joining In The   Roar Which Greets This _Contretemps_. Inexplicable As Is

This Irresistible Burst On The   Hypothesis Of    A Pleasure In Escaping From

Mental Restraint; Or On The   Hypothesis Of    A Pleasure From Relative

Increase Of    Self-Importance, When Witnessing The   Humiliation Of    Others;

It Is Readily Explicable If We Consider What, In Such A Case, Must

Become Of    The   Feeling That Existed At The   Moment The   Incongruity Arose.

A Large Mass Of    Emotion Had Been Produced; Or, To Speak In Physiological

Language, A Large Portion Of    The   Nervous System Was In A State Of

Tension. There Was Also Great Expectation With Respect To The   Further

Evolution Of    The   Scene--A Quantity Of    Vague, Nascent Thought And

Emotion, Into Which The   Existing Quantity Of    Thought And Emotion Was

About To Pass.

 

 

 

Had There Been No Interruption, The   Body Of    New Ideas And Feelings Next

Excited Would Have Sufficed To Absorb The   Whole Of    The   Liberated Nervous

Energy. But Now, This Large Amount Of    Nervous Energy, Instead