ANGER AND SUGAR.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18242, 28 November 1924, Page 2

ANGER AND SUGAR.

Even saints and martyrs arc dependent 011 carbohydrates and proteids for their excellence. "King Lear" itself was made by means of ueer and beef (says the "Daily Telegraph"). But tho man of science who has just told the world that the cause of anger is a superfluity of sugar in the blood goes far beyond the fact. Orthodox physiology disowns him. That in moments of rage wo have in our blood rather more sugar than in our hours of case is quite true. But to suggest that the sugar produces the rage is as reasonable as to suggest that a cold day sets the fire alight. The sugar is in the blood on account of the rage. We have in us a gland which when we feel angry is influenced by the emotion and sends more sugar into the blood. The sugar is provided in order that if our anger demands action the body shall not lack the necessary energy. The sequence is therefore not that a change in the chemical constitution of the blood produces emotion, but tljftt emotion affects the blood's composition. It is the spiritual which rule 3 the material. A stubborn materialist may reply that there is no lack of cases in which the chemistry of the vile body is plainly the dictator of emotions. If we consume too much sugar we arc very likely to suffer from anger. If we never have a square meal we shall probably be children of sorrow. But this does not weaken the evidence that we are so made as_ to be subject to appeals to the spirit. Since men arc such that the chemical processes by which their bodies are made and maintained are affected by the injustice and the misery which others suffer, it is plain that they are not merely the creatures of physical laws.