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Show 312 BLUSHING. CIB.P. XIII. born blind, out of seven or eight then in the Asylum, are great Llushers. The blind are not at first conscious that they are observed, and it is a most important part of their education, as Mr. Blair inforn1s me, to impress this knowledge on their minds ; and the impreRsion thus gained would greatly strengthen the tendency to blush, by increasing the habit of self-attention. The tendency to blush is inherited. Dr. Burgess gives the case 5 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, whilst examining the spine of a girl, was struck at her siB gular 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 san1e peculiarity as her daughter. In most cases the face, ears and neck are the sole parts which redden; but many persons, .whilst blushing intensely, feel that their whole bodies grow hot and tingle; and this shows that the entire surface must be in some manner affected. Blushes are said sometimes to co1nmence on the forehead, but more con1monly on the cheeks, afterwards spreading to the ears and neck.6 In two Albinos examined by Dr. Burgess, the blushes 5 !Lid. p. 182. 6 Mol'eau, in edit. of 1820 of Lavater, vol. iv. p. 303. CIIAP. XIII. BLUSHING. 313 commenced by a small circum crib d Rpot on the che ks, over th parotidean ple u of n rv , (. nd th n incr ased into a circle; betw en thi blu hing circl and the blush on the neck th .~re wa an evid nt line of detnarcation; although both arose simultan ou ly. The retina, which i8 naturally red in th Albino, invariably increased at the same time in r dn s . 7 Ev ry one must have noticed how easily aft r one blu h fresh blushes chase each other over the fa e. Blushing is preceded by a peculiar sensation in the skin. According to Dr. Burgess the reddening of the skin i generally succeeded by a slight pallor, which shows that the capillary vessels contract after dilating. In some rare cases paleness instead of redness is cau d under conditions which would naturally induce a blush. For in tance, a young lady told me that in a larg and crowded party she caught her hair so firmly on the button of a pas ing servant, that it took some time before she could be extricated ; from her s n ations she imagined that she had blushed crimson; but was assured by a friend that she had turned extremely pale. I was desirous to learn how far down the body blushes extend; and Sir J. Paget, who nece arily has frequent opportunities for observation, has kindly attended to this point for me during two or three years. He finds that with women who blu h intensely on the face, ears, and nape of neck, the blu h does not commonly extend any lower down the body. It is rare to e it as low down as the collar-bones and boulder-blades· and he has never himself seen a single in tance in which' it extended below the upper part of the che t. He has al o noticed that blushes som times die aw~y downward , not gradually and in ensibly, but by irregular 7 Burgess, ibid. p. 38, on paleness after blushing, p. 177. |
