Fere has shown that the slight stimulus to the skin furnished
by placing a piece of metal on the arm or elsewhere suffices to
increase the output of work with the ergograph. (Fere, _Comptes
Rendus Societe de Biologie_, July 12, 1902; id., _Pathologic des
Emotions_, pp. 40 et seq.)
Fere found that the application of a mustard plaster to the skin,
or an icebag, or a hot-water bottle, or even a light touch with a
painter's brush, all exerted a powerful effect in increasing
muscular work with the ergograph. "The tonic effect of cutaneous
excitation," he remarks, "throws light on the psychology of the
caress. It is always the most sensitive parts of the body which
seek to give or to receive caresses. Many animals rub or lick
each other. The mucous surfaces share in this irritability of the
skin. The kiss is not only an expression of feeling; it is a
means of provoking it. Cataglottism is by no means confined to
pigeons. The tonic value of cutaneous stimulation is indeed a
commonly accepted idea. Wrestlers rub their hands or limbs, and
the hand-shake also is not without its physiological basis.
"Cutaneous excitations may cause painful sensations to cease.
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