_Sudden Fright._--One of the most pitiful objects in nature is a man or
an animal in a condition of abject fear; and an examination of Plate
XIV. in _Man Visible and Invisible_ shows that under such circumstances
the astral body presents no better appearance than the physical. When a
man's astral body is thus in a state of frenzied palpitation, its
natural tendency is to throw off amorphous explosive fragments, like
masses of rock hurled out in blasting, as will be seen in Fig. 30; but
when a person is not terrified but seriously startled, an effect such as
that shown in Fig. 27 is often produced. In one of the photographs taken
by Dr Baraduc of Paris, it was noticed that an eruption of broken
circles resulted from sudden annoyance, and this outrush of
crescent-shaped forms seems to be of somewhat the same nature, though in
this case there are the accompanying lines of matter which even increase
the explosive appearance. It is noteworthy that all the crescents to the
right hand, which must obviously have been those expelled earliest,
show nothing but the livid grey of fear; but a moment later the man is
already partially recovering from the shock, and beginning to feel angry
that he allowed himself to be startled. This is shown by the fact that
the later crescents are lined with scarlet, evidencing the mingling of
anger and fear, while the last crescent is pure scarlet, telling us that
even already the fright is entirely overcome, and only the annoyance
remains.
[Illustration: FIG. 27. SUDDEN FRIGHT]