His friends, perceiving how the case stood, loudly applauded
the imaginary bursts of eloquence, whenever his gestures
indicated a pause, and the man never discovered that he had
remained the whole time completely silent. On the contrary,
he afterwards remarked to my friend, with much satisfaction,
that he thought he had succeeded uncommonly well.
When a person is much ashamed or very shy, and blushes intensely,
his heart beats rapidly and his breathing is disturbed.
This can hardly fail to affect the circulation of the blood
within the brain, and perhaps the mental powers.
It seems however doubtful, judging from the still more powerful
influence of anger and fear on the circulation, whether we can
thus satisfactorily account for the confused state of mind
in persons whilst blushing intensely.
The true explanation apparently lies in the intimate
sympathy which exists between the capillary circulation
of the surface of the head and face, and that of the brain.
On applying to Dr. J. Crichton Browne for information,
he has given me various facts bearing on this subject.
When the sympathetic nerve is divided on one side of the head,
the capillaries on this side are relaxed and become filled
with blood, causing the skin to redden and to grow hot, and at
the same time the temperature within the cranium on the same
side rises.
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