Browne remarks,
a highly modified condition of the cutaneous vascular system.
If, then, there exists, as cannot be doubted, an intimate sympathy
between the capillary circulation in that part of the brain
on which our mental powers depend, and in the skin of the face,
it is not surprising that the moral causes which induce intense
blushing should likewise induce, independently of their own
disturbing influence, much confusion of mind.
[22] See also Dr. J. Crichton Browne's Memoir on this subject
in the `West Riding Lunatic Asylum Medical Report,' 1871, pp. 95-98.
_The Nature of the Mental States which induce Blushing_.--These consist
of shyness, shame, and modesty; the essential element in all
being self-attention. Many reasons can be assigned for believing
that originally self-attention directed to personal appearance,
in relation to the opinion of others, was the exciting cause;
the same effect being subsequently produced, through the force
of association, by self-attention in relation to moral conduct.
It is not the simple act of reflecting on our own appearance,
but the thinking what others think of us, which excites a blush.
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