صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

ing an enemy, though there may be no intention of acting in this manner. Mr. Dyson Lacy has seen this grinning expression with the Australians, when quarreling, and so has Gaika with the Caffres of South Africa. Dickens, in speaking of an atrocious murderer who had just been caught, and was surrounded by a furious mob, describes "the people as jumping up one behind another, snarling with their teeth, and making at him like wild beasts." Every one who has had much to do with young children must have seen how naturally they take to biting, when in a passion. It seems as instinctive in them as in young crocodiles, who snap their little jaws as soon as they emerge from the egg.

Expression
of the Emo-
tions,
page 253.

SNEERING.

The expression here considered, whether that of a playful sneer or ferocious snarl, is one of the most curious which occurs in man.

It reveals his animal descent; for no one, even if rolling on the ground in a deadly grapple with an enemy, and attempting to bite him, would try to use his canine teeth more than his other teeth. We may readily believe from our affinity to the anthropomorphous apes that our male semi-human progenitors possessed great canine teeth, and men are now occasionally born having them of unusually large size, with interspaces in the opposite jaw for their reception. We may further suspect, notwithstanding that we have no support from analogy, that our semi-human progenitors uncovered their canine teeth when prepared for battle, as we still do when feeling ferocious, or when merely sneering at or defying some one, without any intention of making a real attack with our teeth.

Expression of the Emo

tions, page 258.

DISGUST.

Extreme disgust is expressed by movements round the mouth identical with those preparatory to the act of vomiting. The mouth is opened widely, with the upper lip strongly retracted, which wrinkles the sides of the nose, and with the lower lip protruded and everted as much as possible. This latter movement requires the contraction of the muscles which draw downward the corners of the mouth.

It is remarkable how readily and instantly retching or actual vomiting is induced in some persons by the mere idea of having partaken of any unusual food, as of an animal which is not commonly eaten ; although there is nothing in such food to cause the stomach to reject it. When vomiting results, as a reflex action, from some real cause-as from too rich food, or tainted meat, or from an emetic-it does not ensue immediately, but generally after a considerable interval of time. Therefore, to account for retching or vomiting being so quickly and easily excited by a mere idea, the suspicion arises that our progenitors must formerly have had the power (like that possessed by ruminants and some other animals) of voluntarily rejecting food which disagreed with them, or which they thought would disagree with them; and now, though this power has been lost, as far as the will is concerned, it is called into involuntary action, through the force of a formerly well-established habit, whenever the mind revolts at the idea of having partaken of any kind of food, or at anything disgusting. This suspicion receives support from the fact, of which I am assured by Mr. Sutton, that the monkeys in the Zoological Gardens often vomit while in perfect health, which looks as if the act were voluntary. We can see that as man is able to communicate, by language to his children and others, the knowledge of the kinds of food to be avoided, he would have little occasion to use the faculty of voluntary rejection; so that this power would tend to be lost through disuse.

Expression
of the Emo-
tions,
page 271.

SHRUGGING THE SHOULDERS.

We may now inquire why men in all parts of the world, when they feel-whether or not they wish to show this feeling-that they cannot or will not do something, or will not resist something if done by another, shrug their shoulders, at the same time often bending in their elbows, showing the palms of their hands with extended fingers, often throwing their heads a little on one side, raising their eyebrows, and opening their mouths. These states of the mind are either simply passive, or show a determination not to act. None of the above movements are of the least service. The explanation lies, I can not doubt, in the principle of unconscious antithesis. This principle here seems to come into play as clearly as in the case of a dog, who, when feeling savage, puts himself in the proper attitude for attacking and for making himself appear terrible to his enemy; but, as soon as he feels affectionate, throws his whole body into a directly opposite attitude, though this is of no direct use to him.

Let it be observed how an indignant man who resents and will not submit to some injury holds his head erect, squares his shoulders, and expands his chest. He often clinches his fists, and puts one or both arms in the proper position for attack or defense, with the muscles of his limbs rigid. He frowns-that is, he contracts and lowers his brows-and, being determined, closes his mouth. The actions and attitude of a helpless man are, in every one of these respects, exactly the reverse.

Expression of the Emotions, page 310.

BLUSHING.

Blushing is the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions. Monkeys redden from passion, but it would require an overwhelming amount of evidence to make us believe that any animal could blush. The reddening of the face from a blush is due to the relaxation of the muscular coats of the small arteries, by which the capillaries become filled with blood; and this depends on the proper vaso-motor center being affected. No doubt, if there be at the same time much mental agitation, the general circulation will be affected; but it is not due to the action of the heart that the net-work of minute vessels covering the face becomes, under a sense of shame, gorged with blood. We can cause laughing by tickling the skin; weeping or frowning, by a blow; trembling, from a fear of pain, and so forth; but we can not cause a blush, as Dr. Burgess remarks, by any physical means that is, by any action on the body. It is the mind which must be affected. Blushing is not only involuntary, but the wish to restrain it, by leading to self-attention, actually increases the tendency.

The tendency to blush is inherited. Dr. Page 312. Burgess gives the case of a family, consisting of a father, mother, and ten children, all of whom, without exception, were prone to blush to a most painful degree. The children were grown up; "and some of them were sent to travel, in order to wear away this diseased sensibility, but nothing was of the slightest avail." Even peculiarities in blushing seem to be inherited. Sir James Paget, while examining the spine of a girl, was struck at her singular manner of blushing: a big splash of red appeared first on one cheek, and then other splashes variously scattered over the face and neck. He subsequently asked the mother whether her daughter always blushed in this peculiar manner, and was answered, "Yes, she takes after me." Sir J. Paget then perceived that, by asking this question, he had caused the mother to blush; and she exhibited the same peculiarity as her daughter.

Mr. Washington Matthews has often seen Page 318. a blush on the faces of the young squaws belonging to various wild Indian tribes of North America. At the opposite extremity of the continent, in Tierra del Fuego, the natives, according to Mr. Bridges, “blush much, but chiefly in regard to women; but they certainly blush also at their own personal appearance." This latter statement agrees with what I remember of the Fuegian, Jemmy Button, who blushed when he was quizzed about the care which he took in polishing his shoes, and in otherwise adorning himself.

Several trustworthy observers have assured Page 319. me that they have seen on the faces of negroes an appearance resembling a blush, under circumstances which would have excited one in us, though their skins were of an ebony-black tint. Some describe it as blushing brown, but most say that the blackness becomes more intense.

Page 324.

I will give an instance of the extreme disturbance of mind to which some sensitive men are liable. A gentleman, on whom I can rely, assured

« السابقةمتابعة »