Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📕

Allowed To Expend Itself In Producing An Equivalent Amount Of    The   New

Thoughts And Emotions Which Were Nascent, Is Suddenly Checked In Its

Flow. The   Channels Along Which The   Discharge Was About To Take Place Are

Closed. The   New Channel Opened--That Afforded By The   Appearance And

Proceedings Of    The   Kid--Is A Small One; The   Ideas And Feelings Suggested

Are Not Numerous And Massive Enough To Carry Off The   Nervous Energy To

Be Expended. The   Excess Must Therefore Discharge Itself In Some Other

Direction; And In The   Way Already Explained, There Results An Efflux

Through The   Motor Nerves To Various Classes Of    The   Muscles, Producing

The Half-Convulsive Actions We Term Laughter.

This Explanation Is In Harmony With The   Fact, That When, Among Several

Persons Who Witness The   Same Ludicrous Occurrence, There Are Some Who Do

Not Laugh; It Is Because There Has Arisen In Them An Emotion Not

Participated In By The   Rest, And Which Is Sufficiently Massive To Absorb

All The   Nascent Excitement. Among The   Spectators Of    An Awkward Tumble,

Those Who Preserve Their Gravity Are Those In Whom There Is Excited A

Degree Of    Sympathy With The   Sufferer, Sufficiently Great To Serve As An

Outlet For The   Feeling Which The   Occurrence Had Turned Out Of    Its

Previous Course. Sometimes Anger Carries Off The   Arrested Current; And

So Prevents Laughter. An Instance Of    This Was Lately Furnished Me By A

Friend Who Had Been Witnessing The   Feats At Franconi's. A Tremendous

Leap Had Just Been Made By An Acrobat Over A Number Of    Horses. The

Clown, Seemingly Envious Of    This Success, Made Ostentatious Preparations

For Doing The   Like; And Then, Taking The   Preliminary Run With Immense

Energy, Stopped Short On Reaching The   First Horse, And Pretended To Wipe

Some Dust From Its Haunches. In The   Majority Of    The   Spectators,

Merriment Was Excited; But In My Friend, Wound Up By The   Expectation Of

The Coming Leap To A State Of    Great Nervous Tension, The   Effect Of    The

Baulk Was To Produce Indignation. Experience Thus Proves What The   Theory

Implies: Namely, That The   Discharge Of    Arrested Feelings Into The

Muscular System, Takes Place Only In The   Absence Of    Other Adequate

Channels--Does Not Take Place If There Arise Other Feelings Equal In

Amount To Those Arrested.

Evidence Still More Conclusive Is At Hand. If We Contrast The

Incongruities Which Produce Laughter With Those Which Do Not, We At Once

See That In The   Non-Ludicrous Ones The   Unexpected State Of    Feeling

Aroused, Though Wholly Different In Kind, Is Not Less In Quantity Or

Intensity. Among Incongruities That May Excite Anything But A Laugh, Mr.

Bain Instances--"A Decrepit Man Under A Heavy Burden, Five Loaves And

Two Fishes Among A Multitude, And All Unfitness And Gross Disproportion;

An Instrument Out Of    Tune, A Fly In Ointment, Snow In May, Archimedes

Studying Geometry In A Siege, And All Discordant Things; A Wolf In

Sheep's Clothing, A Breach Of    Bargain, And Falsehood In General; The

Multitude Taking The   Law In Their Own Hands, And Everything Of    The

Nature Of    Disorder; A Corpse At A Feast, Parental Cruelty, Filial

Ingratitude, And Whatever Is Unnatural; The   Entire Catalogue Of    The

Vanities Given By Solomon, Are All Incongruous, But They Cause Feelings

Of Pain, Anger, Sadness, Loathing, Rather Than Mirth." Now In These

Cases, Where The   Totally Unlike State Of    Consciousness Suddenly Produced

Is Not Inferior In Mass To The   Preceding One, The   Conditions To Laughter

Are Not Fulfilled. As Above Shown, Laughter Naturally Results Only When

Consciousness Is Unawares Transferred From Great Things To Small--Only

When There Is What We Call A _Descending_ Incongruity.

And Now Observe, Finally, The   Fact, Alike Inferable _À Priori_ And

Illustrated In Experience, That An _Ascending_ Incongruity Not Only

Fails To Cause Laughter, But Works On The   Muscular System An Effect Of

Exactly The   Reverse Kind. When After Something Very Insignificant There

Arises Without Anticipation Something Very Great, The   Emotion We Call

Wonder Results; And This Emotion Is Accompanied Not By An Excitement Of

The Muscles, But By A Relaxation Of    Them. In Children And Country

People, That Falling Of    The   Jaw Which Occurs On Witnessing Something

That Is Imposing And Unexpected Exemplifies This Effect. Persons Who

Have Been Wonder-Struck At The   Production Of    Very Striking Results By A

Seemingly Inadequate Cause, Are Frequently Described As Unconsciously

Dropping The   Things They Held In Their Hands. Such Are Just The   Effects

To Be Anticipated. After An Average State Of    Consciousness, Absorbing

But A Small Quantity Of    Nervous Energy, Is Aroused Without The   Slightest

Notice, A Strong Emotion Of    Awe, Terror, Or Admiration, Joined With The

Astonishment Due To An Apparent Want Of    Adequate Causation. This New

State Of    Consciousness Demands Far More Nervous Energy Than That Which

It Has Suddenly Replaced; And This Increased Absorption Of    Nervous

Energy In Mental Changes Involves A Temporary Diminution Of    The   Outflow

In Other Directions: Whence The   Pendent Jaw And The   Relaxing Grasp.

One Further Observation Is Worth Making. Among The   Several Sets Of

Channels Into Which Surplus Feeling Might Be Discharged, Was Named The

Nervous System Of    The   Viscera. The   Sudden Overflow Of    An Arrested Mental

Excitement, Which, As We Have Seen, Results From A Descending

Incongruity, Must Doubtless Stimulate Not Only The   Muscular System, As

We See It Does, But Also The   Internal Organs; The   Heart And Stomach Must

Come In For A Share Of    The   Discharge. And Thus There Seems To Be A Good

Physiological Basis For The   Popular Notion That Mirth-Creating

Excitement Facilitates Digestion.

Though In Doing So I Go Beyond The   Boundaries Of    The   Immediate Topic, I

May Fitly Point Out That The   Method Of    Inquiry Here Followed, Is One

Which Enables Us To Understand Various Phenomena Besides Those Of

Laughter. To Show The   Importance Of    Pursuing It, I Will Indicate The

Explanation It Furnishes Of    Another Familiar Class Of    Facts.

All Know How Generally A Large Amount Of    Emotion Disturbs The   Action Of

The Intellect, And Interferes With The   Power Of    Expression. A Speech

Delivered With Great Facility To Tables And Chairs, Is By No Means So

Easily Delivered To An Audience. Every Schoolboy Can Testify That His

Trepidation, When Standing Before A Master, Has Often Disabled Him From

Repeating A Lesson Which He Had Duly Learnt. In Explanation Of    This We

Commonly Say That The   Attention Is Distracted--That The   Proper Train Of

Ideas Is Broken By The   Intrusion Of    Ideas That Are Irrelevant. But The

Question Is, In What Manner Does Unusual Emotion Produce This Effect;

And We Are Here Supplied With A Tolerably Obvious Answer. The   Repetition

Of A Lesson, Or Set Speech Previously Thought Out, Implies The   Flow Of    A

Very Moderate Amount Of    Nervous Excitement Through A Comparatively

Narrow Channel. The   Thing To Be Done Is Simply To Call Up In Succession

Certain Previously-Arranged Ideas--A Process In Which No Great Amount Of

Mental Energy Is Expended. Hence, When There Is A Large Quantity Of

Emotion, Which Must Be Discharged In Some Direction Or Other; And When,

As Usually Happens, The   Restricted Series Of    Intellectual Actions To Be

Gone Through, Does Not Suffice To Carry It Off; There Result Discharges

Along Other Channels Besides The   One Prescribed: There Are Aroused

Various Ideas Foreign To The   Train Of    Thought To Be Pursued; And These

Tend To Exclude From Consciousness Those Which Should Occupy It.

And Now Observe The   Meaning Of    Those Bodily Actions Spontaneously Set Up

Under These Circumstances. The   School-Boy Saying His Lesson Commonly Has

His Fingers Actively Engaged--Perhaps In Twisting About A Broken Pen, Or

Perhaps Squeezing The   Angle Of    His Jacket; And If Told To Keep His Hands

Still, He Soon Again Falls Into The   Same Or A Similar Trick. Many

Anecdotes Are Current Of    Public Speakers Having Incurable Automatic

Actions Of    This Class: Barristers Who Perpetually Wound And Unwound

Pieces Of    Tape; Members Of    Parliament Ever Putting On And Taking Off

Their Spectacles. So Long As Such Movements Are Unconscious, They

Facilitate The   Mental Actions. At Least This Seems A Fair Inference From

The Fact That Confusion Frequently Results From Putting A Stop To Them:

Witness The   Case Narrated By Sir Walter Scott Of    His School-Fellow, Who

Became Unable To Say His Lesson After The   Removal Of    The

Waistcoat-Button That He Habitually Fingered While In Class. But Why Do

They Facilitate The   Mental Actions? Clearly Because They Draw Off A

Portion Of    The   Surplus Nervous Excitement. If, As Above Explained, The

Quantity Of    Mental Energy Generated Is Greater Than Can Find Vent Along

The Narrow Channel Of    Thought That Is Open To It; And If, In

Consequence, It Is Apt To Produce Confusion By Rushing Into Other

Channels Of    Thought; Then By Allowing It An Exit Through The   Motor

Nerves Into The   Muscular System, The   Pressure Is Diminished, And

Irrelevant Ideas Are Less Likely To Intrude On Consciousness.

This Further Illustration Will, I Think, Justify The   Position That

Something May Be Achieved By Pursuing In Other Cases This Method Of

Psychological Inquiry. A Complete Explanation Of    The   Phenomena, Requires

Us To Trace Out _All_ The   Consequences Of    Any Given State Of

Consciousness; And We Cannot Do This Without Studying The   Effects,

Bodily And Mental, As Varying In Quantity At Each Other's Expense. We

Should Probably Learn Much If We In Every Case Asked--Where Is All The

Nervous Energy Gone?

[1] _Macmillan's Magazine_, March 1860.

[2] For Numerous Illustrations See Essay On "The Origin And Function Of

Music."

When Carlo, Standing, Chained To His Kennel, Sees His Master In The

Distance, A Slight Motion Of    The   Tail Indicates His But Faint Hope That

He Is About To Be Let Out. A Much More Decided Wagging Of    The   Tail,

Passing By And By Into Lateral Undulations Of    The   Body, Follows His

Master's Nearer Approach. When Hands Are Laid On His Collar, And He

Knows That He Is Really To Have An Outing, His Jumping And Wriggling Are

Such That It Is By No Means Easy To Loose His Fastenings. And When He

Finds Himself Actually Free, His Joy Expends Itself In Bounds, In

Pirouettes, And In Scourings Hither And Thither At The   Top Of    His Speed.

Puss, Too, By Erecting Her Tail, And By Every Time Raising Her Back To

Meet The   Caressing Hand Of    Her Mistress, Similarly Expresses Her

Gratification By Certain Muscular Actions; As Likewise Do The   Parrot By

Awkward Dancing On His Perch, And The   Canary By Hopping And Fluttering

About His Cage With Unwonted Rapidity. Under Emotions Of    An Opposite

Kind, Animals Equally Display Muscular Excitement. The   Enraged Lion

Lashes His Sides With His Tail, Knits His Brows, Protrudes His Claws.

The Cat Sets Up Her Back; The   Dog Retracts His Upper Lip; The   Horse

Throws Back His Ears. And In The   Struggles Of    Creatures In Pain, We See

That The   Like Relation Holds Between Excitement Of    The   Muscles And

Excitement Of    The   Nerves Of    Sensation.