Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear, and rage : $b an account of recent researches into the function of emotional excitementCannon, Walter B. (Walter Bradford)
Science
Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear, and rage : $b an account of recent researches into the function of emotional excitement
Cannon, Walter B. (Walter Bradford)
Emotions; Mental health; Mind and body
[Illustration: Figure 34.--About two-thirds original size. Record
of rapid clotting (less than a half-minute) after emotional
excitement. At 11:07 the left, at 11:12 the right splanchnic
nerves were cut; the clotting then required 3:5 minutes. The marks
below the time record indicate the moments when the samples were
drawn.]
Nov. 5.--A cat was etherized at 2.35. At 2.39 artificial respiration
by tracheal cannula was begun, the air passing through an ether
bottle. The clotting occurred thus:
2.53--1.5 minutes
.57--1.5 “
3.05--1.5 “
.15--1.5 “
.25 Both splanchnics cut and tied in thorax.
.35--4.5 minutes
.55--4.5 “
Nov. 7.--A cat was etherized at 1.55 under excitement and with tail
hairs erect. At 2.13 the animal was showing reflexes. The figures
show the course of the experiment:
2.15--1.5 minutes
.21--1 “
.26--1 “
.31--1 “
.36--1 “
.41--1 “
.46--2 “
.51--2 “
3.06--2 “
.11--2.5 “
.26 Cut left splanchnic in thorax.
.35 Cut right splanchnic in thorax.
.40--5 minutes
.45--5 “
.51--5.5 “
In this instance the subsequent stimulation of the splanchnic nerves
resulted again in faster clotting--a reduction from 5.5 minutes to
3.5 minutes (see experiment Nov. 7, p. 164). The results from this
experiment are expressed graphically in Fig. 35.
[Illustration: Figure 35.--Rapid clotting after emotional
excitement, with slowing of the process when the splanchnic nerves
were cut in the thorax (the left at 3:26, the right at 3:35).]
The data presented in this chapter show that such stimulation
as in the unanesthetized animal would cause pain, and also such
emotions as fear and rage, are capable of greatly shortening the
coagulation time of blood. These results are quite in harmony with
the evidence previously offered that injected adrenin and secretion
from the adrenal glands induced by splanchnic stimulation hasten
clotting, for painful stimulation and emotional excitement also
evoke activity of the adrenals. Here, then, is another fundamental
change in the body, a change tending to the conservation of its
most important fluid, wrought through the adrenal glands in times
of great perturbation. This bodily change and the others which
occur under the same circumstances are next to be examined with
reference to their significance.
REFERENCES
[Footnote 109: Cannon and Mendenhall: American Journal of Physiology,
1914, xxxiv, p. 251.]
[Footnote 110: Macleod: Diabetes: its Pathological Physiology,
London, 1913, pp. 68-72.]
[Footnote 111: Gautrelet and Thomas: Comptes Rendus, Société de
Biologie, 1909, lxvii, p. 233.]
[Footnote 112: Bang: Der Blutzucker, Wiesbaden, 1913, p. 87.]
[Footnote 113: Elliott: Journal of Physiology, 1912, xliv, p. 379.]
[Footnote 114: Elliott: _Loc. cit._, pp. 406, 407.]
[Footnote 115: Elliott: _Loc. cit._, p. 388.]
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