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Show 220 lnXPRESSION OF DEVOTION. CHAP. Vlli. Devotion.-As devotion is, in some degree, related to affection, though mainly consisting of reverence, often con1Lined with fear, the expression of this state of mind nuty here be briefly noticed. vVith some sects, both pn t aud present, religion and love have been strangely combined ; and it has even been 1naintained, lamentable as the fact may be, that the holy kiss of love differs but little from that which a man bestows on a woman, or a woman on a man.25 Devotion is chiefly expressed by the face being directed towards the heavens, with the eyeballs upturned. Sir C. Bell remarks that, at the approach of sleep, or of a fainting-fit, or of death, the pupils are drawn upwards and inwards; and he believes that " when we are wrapt in devotional feelings, and " outward impressions are unheeded, the eyes are raised " by an action neither taught nor acquired;" and that this is due to the same cause as in the above cases.26 That the eyes are upturned during sleep is, as I hear from Professor Donders, certain. With babies, whilst sucking their Inother' s breast, this movement of the eyeballs often gives to them an absurd appearance of ecstatic delight; and here it may be clearly perceived that a struggle is going on against the position naturally assumed during sleep. But Sir C. Bell's explanation of the fact, which rests on the assumption that certain muscles ·are more under the control of the will than others is, as I hear from Professor Donders, incorrect. As the eyes are often turned up in prayer, without the mind being so much absorbed in thought as to approach to the unconsciousness of sleep, the movement is probably a conventional one-the result of the 25 Dr. l\'fauds1ey has a discussion to this effect in l1is 'Body and Mind,' 1870, p. 85. ' 26 'rl'he Anatomy of Expression,' p. 103, and 'Philosophical rrraus· actions,' 1823, p. 182, CHAP. VIII. EXPRESSION OF DEVOTION. 221 common beli f that Heaven, the source of Divine power to which we pray, is seated above us. A humble kneeling posture, with the hands upturned and palms joined, appears to us, from long habit, a gesture so appropriate to devotion, that it might be thought to be inuate ; but I have not 1net with any evidence to this effect with the various extra-European races of mankind. During the classical period of l~omnn history it does not appear, as I hear from an excellent classic, that the hands were thus joined during prayer. Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood has apparently given 27 the true explanation, though this implies that the attitude is one of slavish subjection. "When the "suppliant kneels and holds up his hands '"ith the palms ''joined, he represents a captive who proves the com" pleteness of his submission by offering up his hands to "be bound by the victor. It is the pictorial representa" tion of the Latin dare manus, to signify submission." Hence it is not probable that either the uplifting of the eyes or the joining of the open hands, under the influence of devotional feelings, are innate or truly expressive actions; and this could hardly have been expected, for it is very doubtful whether feelings, such as we should now rank as devotional, affected the hearts of 1nen, whilst they remained during past ages In an uncivilized condition. . 21 'The :origin of Language,' 1866, p. 146. Mr. Tylor (' J~nr1y History of Mankind,' 2nJ. edit.l870, p. 48) gives a more complex origin to the position of the hands during prayer. |