The mind at work : a handbook of applied psychology / edited by Geoffrey Rhodes.

Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The mind at work : a handbook of applied psychology / edited by Geoffrey Rhodes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    from the salivary glands. This saliva is useful for the swallowing and digestion of food ; and the sight of something we think pleasant or suitable for our needs has caused the “ mouth to water ” as a preliminary to its absorption. The smell of something unpleasant may not only produce the emotion of disgust, but also lead to muscular action of the organs connected with swallowing and digestion, and thus cause vomiting. By experiment it has been found that the sensations and emotions connected with food and eating lead to reflex results throughout the organs of diges- tion. Thus the glands of the stomach and glandular organs, such as the liver and the pancreas, at once prepare for the reception of material for digestion, even before the food has been masticated. The intimate connection between every portion of the body and the central nervous system by means of the network of nerves is shown by the effects produced by the emotions on the organs of circulation, respiration, or digestion. Examples of such influences are to be found in the palpita- tion of the heart caused by fear, in the blushing (due to dilatation of the bloodvessels of the skin) caused by shame, or the pallor (due to contraction of bloodvessels) in terror, in the rapid breathing of anger, in the indigestion produced by sorrow or depression, in the diarrhoea caused by anxiety