Burke, who deserves to be called the foremost author in this method of treatment, deduces, on these lines, 'that the feeling of the sublime is grounded on the impulse towards selfpreservation and on fear, ie on a pain, which, since it does not go the length of disordering the bodily parts, calls forth movements which, as they clear the vessels, whether fine or gross, of a dangerous and troublesome encumbrance, are capable of producing delight; not pleasure but a sort of delightful horror, a sort of tranquillity tinged with terror.'