Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Joy

JOY, one of the most powerful mental emotions, accompanied with an extraordinary degree of pleasure. The effect of this sensation, if not too violent, invigorates the whole animal frame, and facilitates the cure of diseases.

Sudden joy, however, is often as injurious as the operation of either grief or terror; and many instances are recorded, in which the precipitate communication of unexpected news has proved immediately fatal. In order to prevent so dreadful a misfortune, such information ought not to be imparted, till the person to whom it relates, has been cautiously apprised, and thus prepared to undergo the various emotions and sensations that necessarily arise in an organized system. Hence we should fortify the mind equally, for encountering the most agreeable as well as the most disastrous tidings.