Or the supply of nerve-force may, as it appears, be interrupted.
Of course every movement which we make is determined by the constitution
of the nervous system; but actions performed in obedience to the will,
or through habit, or through the principle of antithesis, are here
as far as possible excluded. Our present subject is very obscure,
but, from its importance, must be discussed at some little length;
and it is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance.
The most striking case, though a rare and abnormal one,
which can be adduced of the direct influence of the nervous system,
when strongly affected, on the body, is the loss of colour in the hair,
which has occasionally been observed after extreme terror or grief.
One authentic instance has been recorded, in the case of a man
brought out for execution in India, in which the change of colour
was so rapid that it was perceptible to the eye.[1]
Another good case is that of the trembling of the muscles,
which is common to man and to many, or most, of the lower animals.
Trembling is of no service, often of much disservice,
and cannot have been at first acquired through the will,
and then rendered habitual in association with any emotion.
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