Besides limitation of the voluntary movements and contraction of
the field of consciousness, there are also present in the crowd, the mat-
rix of the mob, the conditions of monotony and inhibition. When the
preacher, the politician, the stump orator, the ringleader, the hero,
gains the ear of the crowd, an ominous silence sets in, a silence fre-
quently characterized as "awful." The crowd is in a state of over-
strained expectation; with suspended breath it watches the hero or
the interesting, all absorbing object. Disturbing impressions are ex-
cluded, put down, or driven away by force. All interfering influences
and ideas are inhibited. The crowd is entranced, and rapidly merges
into the mob-state.
