There is for some people a fascination in the sight of blood which must not be mistaken for cruelty, although it is accompanied by dangerous and undesirable emotion. Just as other emotion-producing experiences--such as the sight or hearing of torture, of hairbreadth escapes, and of ghosts--produces uncontrollable repulsion and horror in some people, and to others (or even to the same people when in another state of health or mental balance) actually gives a pleasurable sensation (exquisite shudderings, as the French say), so does the sight of blood or even the mere hearing of the word "blood" act differently on different people. Every one who has witnessed a Spanish bull-fight knows that it is not any desire for, or enjoyment of, the sight of pain which excites the crowded mass of spectators. There is no "cruelty," in the proper sense, in their state of mind, no pleasure in witnessing pain--a thing which, terrible as it is to think of, yet does exist naturally in mankind, and has to be, and is, repressed and absolutely got rid of in the course of the humanizing education of civilized mankind. The spectators of the Spanish bull-fight are primarily under the spell or fascination of the sight of blood, and in a less degree they are attracted by the wonderful exhibition of skill and strength on the part of the matador and his troop. The crowd excitedly acclaims the first drops of blood which the splendid bull is made to shed. They buy, after he has been killed, the paper-winged darts smeared with his blood. The colour, the mystery, and the magnificence of blood produces in them a violent emotion. It is to them a delight, but only a single step separates their delight from pain and actual physical distress. The most absolutely nauseating smells are very nearly identical with delightful perfumes, and we all know how readily a taste may be acquired converting the former into the latter--as in the case of the (to most people) foul-smelling East Indian fruit, the durian, and of rotten cheese and "high" game. We also know that a sudden revulsion of "feeling" may occur in regard to hitherto approved smells and flavours, so that headache, vomiting, and even fainting may be produced by a smell or flavour which was previously found a favourite beyond all others.