Identifier: fearange00moss (find matches)
Title: Fear
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Mosso, A. (Angelo), 1846-1910 Kiesow, E. Lough Kiesow, F
Subjects: Fear Brain
Publisher: London, New York (etc.) : Longmans, Green, and co.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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Tet little consideredin physiology, I shall communicate a few experimentswhich I made bearing upon it. Fig. 7 represents thepulse of the carotid artery of a dog. During line Fthe animal was quiet ; the pulse is somewhat irregular,which, in the dog, is a physiological fact. In line Gfive normal pulsations may be seen, while at A a shotwas fired two steps from the dog. The report causedsuch a vibration of the air that the pen trembled, asmay be seen from the irregular outline of the first twopulsations. The effect of fear on the heart is imme-diate. The frequency of the beats becomes at oncethree times greater than before. We waited till the dog was quiet again. Fifteenminutes afterwards the curve H, which represents thenormal pulse-line, was written, then came six pulsa-tions of the line I, while at B a second shot was fired,and immediately the pulse was accelerated. THE BEATING OF THE HEART 5
Text Appearing After Image:
j2 I I 6 FEAR But why does the heart beat more rapidly and fre-quently in fear ? In order to explain the cause of thisphenomenon I must remind the reader of the observa-tions which I made during my studies of the pulse,and of the circulation of the blood in the human brainduring sleep. In a sleeping person, at the slightestnoise or touch, the pulse becomes more frequentwithout the sleep being interrupted. This change isindispensable in order to accelerate the circulation andto utilise to the utmost the strength of the organism inpreparing it for defence. Our machine is so made thatit changes automatically as required, without the in-terference of the will being necessary. The palpitationof the heart from fear is the exaggeration of a factwhich we always notice, whenever the organism mustdevelop its maximum of energy and increase the circu-lation in the nerve-centres ; the heart does not workfor itself, but for the brain and muscles, which are theinstruments of combat, attack, defence,

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