on the farther continuation of this cause of excitation, the contractility of vascular fibres is opposed to the expansile influence of the contained fluid, and a feeling of pain is the consequence. Arguing, then, by analogy, from the phenomenon of heat, Sir Humphrey Davy has supposed it probable, that "pleasurable feeling is uniformly connected with a moderate increase of nervous action; and that this increase, when carried to certain limits, produces mixed emotions or sublime pleasure, and beyond those limits absolute pain."* Lately much countenance has been given to this opinion, by the publication of an experiment in which, from some idiosyncracy in the constitution of the individual who inhaled the nitrous oxide, a moderate dose of the gas was found to exert a most powerful action on the state of the mind. This effect was experienced by a student at Yale College in America. "A gentleman," says Professor Silliman, "about nineteen years of age, of a sanguine temperament and cheerful temper, and in the most perfect health, inhaled the nitrous oxide, which was prepared and administered in the usual dose and manner. Immediately his feelings were uncommonly elevated, so that (as he expressed it) he could not refrain from dancing and shouting! To such a degree was he excited, that he was thrown into a frightful delirium, and his exertions became so violent that he sunk to the earth exhausted; and, having there remained till he in some degree recovered * Sir Humphrey Davy's Researches concerning the Nitrous Oxide, p. 552. his strength, he again rose only to renew the most convulsive muscular efforts, and the most piercing screams and cries, until, overpowered by the intensity of the paroxysms, he again fell to the ground, apparently senseless, and panting vehemently. For the space of two hours these symptoms continued; he was perfectly unconscious of what he was doing, and was in every respect like a maniac: he states, however, that his feelings vibrated between perfect happiness and the most consummate misery. After the first violent effects had subsided, he was obliged to lie down two or three times from excessive fatigue, although he was immediately roused upon any one's entering the room. The effects remained in a degree for two or three days, accompanied by a hoarseness, which he attributed to the exertions made while under the influence of the gas." This is a very singular experiment; and is so far instructive, that the alternations of pleasure and pain, which indicate an extreme state of excitement, sufficiently well explain the mixed character of many of the visions of enthusiasts. St Teresa, for instance, of whom I have before spoken, had ecstacies, wherein the vividness of her ideas was so intense, that, like the American student, she often "vibrated between perfect happiness and perfect misery;" or, in other words, she had alternate prospects of heaven and of hell, of benignant spirits and of devils. She saw St Peter and St Paul, but she saw likewise foul fiends, whom • Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for January 1, 1823, page 204 she insulted by crossing herself, and by making signs of scorn, or whom she kept at bay, by sprinkling holy water on the ground. She had, afterwards, the felicity of seeing souls freed from purgatory, and carried up to heaven; but none, to her recollection, ever escaped the purifying flame, except Father Peter of Alcantara, Father Ivagnez, and a Carmelite friar. * *Townsend's Tour through Spain, vol. ii. p. 100. CHAPTER XVI. WHEN CAUSES ACT ACUTELY UPON ORGANS OF SENSATION, AND ARE UNREMITTINGLY PROLONGED, THEY OCCASIONALLY CHANGE THE QUALITY OF THEIR ACTION; AS, FOR INSTANCE, FROM PAIN TO PLEASURE. IDEAS LIKEWISE PARTAKE OF THIS CHANGE OF EX CITEMENT. "The visage of a hangman frights not me: It has been shewn in the last chapter, that when sensations and ideas are stimulated conjointly, and to an excessive degree, an ecstacy may ensue which is alternately pleasurable and painful. An effect analogous to this may occur, when the organs of sensation alone are subjected to an acute excitement, as the following remarkable case, which is to be found in Dr Crichton's Dissertation on Mental Derangement, sufficiently well illustrates. It is a translation from the Gazette Literaire, published in France. "An extraordinary young man, who lived at Paris, and who was passionately fond of mechanics, shut himself up one evening in his apartment, and bound not only his breast and belly, but also his arms, legs, and thighs, around with ropes, full of knots, the ends of which he fastened to hooks in the wall. After having passed a considerable part of the night in this situation, he wished to disengage himself, but attempted it in vain. Some neighbouring females, who had been early up, heard his cries, and calling the assistance of the patrol, they forced open the door of his apartment, where they found him swinging in the air, with only one arm extricated. He was immediately carried to the lieutenant-general of the police for examination, where he declared that he had often put similar trials into execution, as he experienced indescribable pleasure in them. He confessed that at first he felt pain, but that after the cords became tight, he was soon rewarded by the most exquisite sensations of pleasure."* As this curious fact requires explanation, I shall again advert to the remark which was made in a preceding chapter, that an irritating cause, which primarily operates upon organs of sensation, may eventually influence the whole of the circulation,—to the varied conditions of which the general vividness of sensations and ideas holds a more immediate correspondence than to states of the nervous system. Again, it has been shewn, that an irritating cause, which excites to an intense degree organs of sensation, may change the quality of its operation, namely, from pain to pleasure. When, therefore, the same cause of irritation has so generally influenced the state of the circulating system, as to add to the influence of ideas of a similar * Crichton on Mental Derangement, vol. i. p. 132. |