stands on end; his voice is forced out in short shrieks and groans;
and the whole fabric totters.”—“ Fear or terror,” he continues,
“ which is an apprehension of pain or death, exhibits exactly the
same effects, approaching in violence to those just mentioned, in
proportion to the nearness of the cause, and the weakness of the
subject*.”
But there is one distinguishing feature of the two conditions—
The immediate effect of pain is to produce an energetic action and
tension of the whole frame; that of fear is to relax all the energy
of mind and body, to paralyse as it were every muscle. Mr. Burke
seems to have written loosely, partly from forgetting that pain and
fear are frequently combined, and partly from taking a view of the
subject too much limited to the particular conclusion which he
wished to enforce. There cannot be great pain without its being
attended with the distraction of doubts and fears; the dread even of
death is a natural consequence of extreme pain, and so the expression
of fear in the countenance, is frequently mingled with that of
pain. But perhaps there are few passions which may not, in consequence
of such combinations, be assimilated with equal truth—
fear and hatred; hatred and rage; rage and vengeance and remorse.
On the other hand, confining the assimilation with pain to the case
of simple bodily fear, there is much truth in the observation of this
eloquent writer. The fear of boiling water falling on the legs,
gives an expression of the anticipation of scalding, resembling the
Sublime and Beautiful, part iv. § 3. Cause of Pain and Fear.
meaner expression of bodily pain and suffering. As Mr. Burke
says, fear in a dog will no doubt be that of the lash, a«d he will yelp
and howl as if he actually felt the blows. This indeed is the only
kind of fear which brutes know. The higher degrees of fear, in
which the mind operates, and which we shall see characterised
in the countenance by an expression peculiar to mental energy,
do not appear in them.
In man, the expression of mere bodily fear, is like that of animals,
without dignity; it is the mean anticipation of pain. The
eyeball is largely uncovered, the eyes staring, and the eyebrows elevated
to the utmost stretch. There is a spasmodic affection of the
diaphragm and muscles of the chest, affecting the breathing, producing
a gasping in the throat with an inflation of the nostril,
convulsive opening of the mouth, and dropping of the jaw; the bps
nearly concealing the teeth, yet allowing the tongue to be seen, the
space between the nostril and lip being full. There is a hollowness
and convulsive motion of the cheeks, and a trembling of the bps,
and muscles on the side of the neck. The lungs are kept distended,
while the breathing is short and rapid. From the connexion
of the nerves of the lungs and midriff with those of the
side of the neck, and with the branches which supply the cutaneous
muscle of the cheek and neck, we may comprehend the cause of
the convulsive motion of this muscle*. The aspect is pale and
cadaverous from the receding of the blood. The hair is lifted up
by the creeping of the skin.
* See a preceding Essay.