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Show 236 DECISION. or uecision to the countenance. No determined n1an probably over had au habitually gaping mouth. Hence, also, a small and weak lower jaw, which seems to indicate that the 1nouth is not habitually and firmly closed, is commonly thought to be characteristic of feebleness of character. A prolonged effort of any kind, whether of body or mind, implies previous dotermination; and if it can be shown that the 1nouth is generally closed with firmness before and during a great and continued exertion of the muscular system, then, through the principle of association, the 1nouth would almost certainly be closed as soon as any determined resolution was taken. Now several observers have noticed that a man, in commencing any violent muscular effort, invariably first ·distends his lungs with air, and then compresses it by the strong contraction of the 1nuscles of the chest; and to effect this the PlOuth must be firmly closed. Moreover, as soon as the man is compelled to draw breath, he still keeps his chest as 1nuch distended as possible. Various causes have been assigned for this manner of aeting. Sir 0. Bell 1naintains 13 that the chest is distended with air, and is kept distended at such times, in order to give a fixed support to the muscles which are thereto attached. Hence, as he re1narks, when two 1nen are engaged in a deadly contest, a terrible silence prevails, broken only by hard stifled breathing. There is silence, because to expel the air in the utterance of any sound would be to relax the support for the muscles of the arms. If an outcry is heard, supposing the struggle to take place in the dark, we at once know that one of the two has given up in despair. Gratiolet admits a that when a mall has to struggle ta ' Anatomy of Expression,' p. 190. 14 'De lu. Physionomie,' pp. 118--121. .. CHAP. IX. DECISION. 237 with another to his utn1o t, or has to support a great weight, or to keep for a 1 ng tin1e the sam fore d attitude, it is neces ary for him first to make a deep in piration, and then to cen. e breathing; but he thinks that Sir 0. Bell's explanati n i erroneou . Ile maintain that arr sted respiration retards the circulation of the blood, of which I believe thoro is no doubt, and h adduces some curiou evidence from the structure of th lower animals, showing, on the one hand, that a retarded circulation is nece ary for prolonged muscular exertion, and, on the other hand, that a rapid circulation is necc - sary for rapid movem nts. According to this view, when we comn1ence any great exertion, we close our mouths and stop breathing, in order to retard the circulation of the blood. Gratiolet sum up the subject by saying, " C'est la la vraie theorie de l'effort continu ;" but how far this theory is admitted by other physiologists I do not know. Dr. Piderit account::s 15 for the firm closure of the n1outh during strong muscular exertion, on the principle that the influence of the will spreads to other muscl s besides those necessarily brought into action in makinoany particular exertion; and it is natural that th Jnuscles of respiration and of the mouth, from being so habitually used, should be especially liable to be thns a ·ted on. It appears to me that there probably is om truth in this view, for we are apt to pre the tc th hurd together during violent exertion, and this i, not l'Lquisite to prevent expiration, whibt the muscl s of th che t are trongly contracted. La tly, when a man has to perfonn some delicate an<l difficult operation, not requiring the exertion of any strength, he nevertheless generally closes his mouth and D '1\Tintik mul PJty.-i ··g-nomik,' R. 7!1. |