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Show 230 ILL-TEMPER. CIIAP. IX. eyes is that of convergence; and Professor Donde~·s relnarks, as bearing on their divergence during a per1o~ of complete abstraction, that when one eye becomes b~1nd, it almost always, after a short lapse of time.' devia.tes outwards; for its muscles are no longer used In moving the eyeball in wards for the sake of binocu:ar vision. . Perplexed reflection is often accompanied by certa1n movements or gestures. At such times we commonly raise our hands to our foreheads, mouths, or chins; but we do not act thus, as far as I have seen, when we are quite lost in meditation, and no difficulty is encountered. Plautus, describing in one of his plays 7 a puzzle<l man, says, "Now look, he has pillared his chin u~on "his hand." Even so trifling and apparently unmeaning a gesture as the raising of the hand to the face has been observed with some savages. Mr. J. Mansel W eale has seen it with the Kafirs of South Africa; and the native chief Gaika adds, that men then " so1netimeH " pull their beards." Mr. vVashington Matthews, who attended to some of the wildest tribes of Indians in the western regions of the United States, remarks that he has seen them when concentrating their thoughts, bring their ''hands, usually the thumb and index "finger, in contact with some part of the face, com" 1nonly the upper lip." We can understand why the forehead should be pressed or rubbed, as deep thought tries the brain; but why the hand should be raised to the mouth or face is far from clear. lll-len1per. - We have seen that frowning is the. natural expression of some difficulty encountered, or of ~omethino- disaoTeeaLle experienced either in thought or 0 b action, and he whose mind is often and readily affected 7 . ' Miles Glol'iosus,' act ii. sc. 2. CHAP. L/. ILL-TEMPETI. 201 in thi way, will L apt to be ill-ten1p reel, or ]jo·htly angry, or peevish, aud will comn1only how it by frowning. But a ro expre sion, due to a frown, 1nay be count racted, if the mouth appears weet, fron1 b ing habitually drawn into a smile, and the eyes are bright and cheerful. So it will be if the eye is clear awl ~teady, and there is the appearance of earnest r flection. Frowning, with some depre sion of the corn r~ of the mouth, which i a sign of grief, gives an air or peevishne s. If a child (see Plate IV., fig. 2) 8 frowns n1uch whilst crying, but does not strongly contra ·t in the usual manner the orbicular muscles, a well-marked expression of anger or even of rage, together with misery, is displayed. If the whole frowning brow be drawn much downward by the contraction of the pyramidal muscles of the nose, which produces transverse wrinkles or fold aero s the base of the nose, the expression becom ~ one of moroseness. Duchenne believes that the contraction of this muscle, without any frowning, gives the appearance of extreme and aggressive hardness.9 But I much doubt whether this is a true or natural expr ssion. I have shown Duchenne's photograph of a young man, with this muscle strongly contracted by 1neans of galvanism, to eleven persons, including son1 arti ts, and none of them could form an idea what was intended, except one, a girl, who answer d correctly, "surly reserve." When I first looked at thi · photograph, knowing what was intended, n1y imagination added, as I believe, what was necessary, nam 1y, 'rhc ol'iginal photogl'aph by llcrr Kiudonnanu iti ruu ·h moru cxprc sive thrm this copy, as it show~;; the frown on the Lrow 11wrc plainly. 0 'l\1cc::misme de la Physionomio Humaiuc,' Album, Lcgenuo iv. fig . 16-1 . |