Crichton Browne with respect to the insane.
He states in answer that he has repeatedly seen their hair
erected under the influence of sudden and extreme terror.
For instance, it is occasionally necessary to inject morphia,
under the skin of an insane woman, who dreads the operation
extremely, though it causes very little pain; for she believes
that poison is being introduced into her system, and that her
bones will be softened, and her flesh turned into dust.
She becomes deadly pale; her limbs are stiffened by a sort
of tetanic spasm, and her hair is partially erected on the front
of the head.
Dr. Browne further remarks that the bristling of the hair which is
so common in the insane, is not always associated with terror.
It is perhaps most frequently seen in chronic maniacs, who rave
incoherently and have destructive impulses; but it is during
their paroxysms of violence that the bristling is most observable.
The fact of the hair becoming erect under the influence both of rage
and fear agrees perfectly with what we have seen in the lower animals.
Dr. Browne adduces several cases in evidence. Thus with a man
now in the Asylum, before the recurrence of each maniacal paroxysm,
"the hair rises up from his forehead like the mane of a Shetland pony.
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