translat. vol. ii. p. 938.
[45] Prof. Laycock has discussed this point in a very interesting manner.
See his `Nervous Diseases of Women,' 1840, p. 110.
If, however, the part is furnished with muscles, we cannot
feel sure, as Mr. Michael Foster has remarked to me, that some
slight impulse may not be unconsciously sent to such muscles;
and this would probably cause an obscure sensation in the part.
In a large number of cases, as with the salivary and lacrymal glands,
intestinal canal, &c., the power of attention seems to rest,
either chiefly, or as some physiologists think, exclusively, on the
vaso-motor system being affected in such a manner that more blood
is allowed to flow into the capillaries of the part in question.
This increased action of the capillaries may in some cases be combined
with the simultaneously increased activity of the sensorium.
The manner in which the mind affects the vasomotor system may be
conceived in the following manner. When we actually taste sour fruit,
an impression is sent through the gustatory nerves to a certain part
of the sensorium; this transmits nerve-force to the vasomotor centre,
which consequently allows the muscular coats of the small arteries
that permeate the salivary glands to relax.
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