same channel of discharge. It may fairly be assumed, as the nature of the effect is in all cases determined by the nature of the idea attended to, that the act of attention only determines in what organ or part the effect shall be produced. That this directing power is often exerted, in cases of strong emotion, does not admit of doubt; and perhaps, under a less degree of excitement, an habitual influence of the same kind might be traced. The most evident difference between Attention and Emotion, in their effects upon Nutrition, is that the force of the former does not seem to be exhausted by the production of material changes; but,

1 The author has elsewhere related ('Pathology and Treatment of Hysteria'), upon what appears to him to be credible testimony, the following very remarkable instance of the power of attention to direct the injurious action of a violent emotional shock. A lady, in perfect health, who was watching her little boy at play, saw a heavy window-sash fall upon his hand, cutting off three of the fingers; and she was so much overcome by terror and distress, as to be unable to render him any assistance. A surgeon was speedily obtained, who, having dressed the wounds, turned his attention to the mother, and found her half stupefied, but moaning, and complaining of pain in her hand. On examination, three fingers, corresponding to those injured in the child, were discovered to be swollen and inflamed, although they had ailed nothing prior to the accident. On the next day, the inflammation had proceeded so far, that incisions were required to permit the escape of matter; and some time elapsed before recovery was established. Now there can be no doubt that, in this case, the violent perversion of the ordinary nutritive operations, or in other words, the inflammation, was the direct result of strong emotional excitement; and that the part to suffer was selected in consequence of attention being fixed upon it, by its correspondence with the part injured in the child.

on the contrary, to gain strength by exercise; while any permanent alterations that it works may be regarded as the results of a continued effort, rather than of a sudden shock. I am inclined to believe that, in many cases of slight emotion, the only effect produced, in the first instance, is automatic attention to the idea which forms one element of the emotional state; and that, in time, an abiding emotion is produced, which may be lost sight of by the consciousness, even while it is working changes in the body. If this view be a correct one, the state of expectant attention would admit of analysis. The emotional element would supply the power by which the ordinary operations of the nervous system were perverted; and the act of attention would exert a twofold influence, prolonging the emotion by keeping the mind fixed upon it, and directing the current of force towards the organ in which the change was looked for.

The effects of Introspective Attention upon the mental faculties, will require to be particularly noticed hereafter, in describing certain of the diseases of the nervous system, and in explaining the principles and objects of moral education. To save repetition, therefore, only the general character of the influence that is exerted will be mentioned in this place; and there is little to add, with regard to it, to what has been said already. The continual direction of the consciousness upon matters of a personal kind, such as the sensations, emotions, and desires of the individual, to the exclusion of other subjects of observation or thought, has an inevitable tendency to deaden the perceptions and to paralyse the mind. It produces a

condition in which the faintest sensation, or the most trivial idea connected with self, will destroy the feeble, efforts at volitional attention, and will lead away the thoughts into unresisting captivity. Introspection, although it is generally commenced by an effort of the will, yet manifests a tendency to become automatic, greater than that of any other form of the attentional state. Hence, its predominance over the powers of observation and reflection, when once established, is likely to go on increasing; and, if it commence in early life, its results, both intellectual and moral, are frequently of the most distressing kind. The principle upon which it acts has already been laid down, in mentioning the antagonistic character of different methods of attention; and illustrations of the way in which this principle is carried out, will be abundantly furnished in the sequel.

CHAPTER V.

NERVOUS DISEASES.

BEFORE attempting to explain the manner in which education may be applied to the prevention of certain diseases of the nervous system, it will be necessary to give some account of what those diseases are, of their essential characteristics, and of their ordinary methods of attack. In doing so, it is not intended to enter into any technical, or strictly medical, questions; but only to furnish such explanations as will serve to link effects to their causes; to render intelligible the course of action that will hereafter be advised; and to give a clear and distinct conception of the evils that it is desired to guard against.

In the first place, it must be remarked, that diseases of the nervous system, visibly impairing its functions, may fairly be divided into two great classes; of which the first will include those produced by mechanical or physical agencies; and the second, those in which no such agencies can be traced. In the one case, the cause is always external to the nervous centres, and is commonly independent of them; in the other, it is generated, as far as can be discerned, in consequence

of their own operations; and probably within their own structure. The first class will not, it is evident, include any disorders which education can prevent, or, in their essential features, even modify; and the brief reference made to them will be intended rather to indicate the province of the physician, than to engage the attention of the general reader. The second class, however, caused in great measure by unnatural excitement of the feelings, or by perverted direction of the thoughts, will require a full and careful notice; inasmuch as the diseases comprised in it afford scope for the exertions, and occupation for the mind, of the parent, at a time when medicine is powerless to avert their progress, and is not yet required in order to palliate their effects. To these diseases, therefore, the present chapter will be chiefly devoted; and the others will only receive such cursory notice as will avoid confusion between the two, and will render apparent the differences that distinguish them. For this purpose, and in order to illustrate the operation of mechanical and physical agencies, it will be sufficient to refer to the effects of pressure; and of certain poisonous substances.

When pressure is made upon the trunk of a nerve, if moderate in degree, it produces pain, or uneasy sensation of some kind, which is always referred to that part of the body where the compressed filaments are finally distributed. This result is frequently experienced from compression of a nerve trunk passing along the thigh, and whose branches terminate in the foot. After sitting in a position that subjects this trunk to pressure, either from the edge of a chair or