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Show 314 BLUSHING. CHAP. XIII. ruddy blotches. Dr. Langstaff has likewise observed for me several wo1nen whose bodies did not in the least Tedden while their faces were crimsoned with blushes. 'Vith the insane, some of whom appear to be partieularly liable to blushing, Dr. J. Crichton Browne has several times seen the blush extend as far down as the collarbones and in two instances to the breasts. He gives me th' e case of a married woman, aged twenty-seYen, who suffered from epilepsy. On the morning after her arrival in the Asylum, Dr. Browne, together with his assistants, visited her whilst she was in bed. The mo· n1ent that he approached, she blushed deeply over her cheeks and temples; and the blush spread quickly to her ears. She was much agitated and tremulous. He unfastened the collar of her chemise in order to examine the state of her lungs ; and then a brilliant blush rushed over her chest, in an arched line over tho upper third of each breast, and extended downwards between the breasts nearly to the ensiform cartilage of the sternum. rrhis case is interesting, as the blush did uot thus extend downwards until it became intense by her attention being drawn to this part of her person. As the examination proceeded she became composed, and the blush disappeared; but on several subsequent occasions the same ph~nomena were observed. The foregoing facts show that, as a general rule, with Ene-lish women blushing does not extend beneath the neck and upper ~art of the chest. Nevertheless Sir J. Paget informs tne that he has lately heard of a case, on which he can fully rely, in which a little girl, shocked by what she imagined to be an act of indelicacy, blushed all over her abdomen and the upper parts of her legs. 1\ioreau also 8 relates, on the authority of a celebrated s See Lavater, edit. of 182·0, vol. iv. p. 303. CHAP. XIII. BLUSHIN . 315 painter, that the che t, shoulder , arms, and whole b d v of a girl, who unwillingly con ent d to rve aR a mod i, reddened when she was fir t div ted of h r loth s. It is a rather curious question why, in mo t ca e the face, ear , and n ck alone redd n, ina 1nuch as the whole surface of the body often tingl s and grows hot. 'fhis seems to dep nd, chi fly, on th face and adjoining parts of the kin having be n habitu· lly expo ed to the air, light, and alternations of temperature, by which the srnall arteri s not only have acquir d the habit of readily dilating and contra ting, but appear to have become unusually d veloped in o1npari a with other parts of the surface.9 It is probably owiug to tbi same cause, as M. Moreau and Dr. Burges have remarked, that the face is so liable to redd n und r various circumstances, such as a fever-fit, ordinary heat, violent exertion, anger, a light blow, &c.; and on the other hand that it is liable to grow pale from cold and fear, and to be discoloured during pregnancy. The face is also particularly liable to be affi cted by cutaIJeous complaints, by small-pox, erysipelas, &e. This view is likewise supported by the fact that the m n of certain races, who habitually go nearly naked, often b1u, h over their arms aud chests and even d wn to their waists. A lady, who is a gr at blu her, informs Dr. Crichton Browne, that when she feel ashamed or is agitated, she blu hes over her face neck wri t and hands,-that is, over all the xpo ' :)d por't ions o'f her skin. N evertheles it may be doubted whether the habitual exposure of the skin of the face and neck, and its con equent power of reaction under stimulants of all kinds, is by itself sufficient to account 11 Burgess, ibid. pp. 114, 122. Moreau in Lavatcr, ibid. vol. iv. p. 293. |
