Unless an animal
does thus act, or has the intention, or at least the desire,
to attack its enemy, it cannot properly be said to be enraged.
An inherited habit of muscular exertion will thus have been gained
in association with rage; and this will directly or indirectly
affect various organs, in nearly the same manner as does
great bodily suffering.
[9] I am much indebted to Mr. A. H. Garrod for having informed
me of M. Lorain's work on the pulse, in which a sphygmogram
of a woman in a rage is given; and this shows much difference
in the rate and other characters from that of the same woman
in her ordinary state.
The heart no doubt will likewise be affected in a direct manner;
but it will also in all probability be affected through habit;
and all the more so from not being under the control of the will.
We know that any great exertion which we voluntarily make, affects the heart,
through mechanical and other principles which need not here be considered;
and it was shown in the first chapter that nerve-force flows
readily through habitually used channels,--through the nerves of
voluntary or involuntary movement, and through those of sensation.
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