OCR Text |
Show Pi- Y. .l U<YNT:ffiMPT. pressed in 1nany different ways, inasmuch as vari u:::; habitual actions serve equally well, through the principle of association, for their expression. Scorn and disdain, as well as sneering and defianc , may be displayed by a slight uncovering of the canine tooth on one si le of the face; and this movement appears to graduate into one closely like a smile. Or the smile or laugh 1nay be real, although one of derision; and tl1is in1plies that the offender is so insignificant that he excites only amusement; but the amusement is generally a pretence. Gaika in his answers to 1ny queries remark , that contempt is commonly shown by his countrymen, the 1\:afirs, by stniling; and the Rajah Brooke makes the san1e observation with re pect to tho Dyaks of Borneo. As laughter is pri1narily the expres~ ion of silnple joy, very young children do not, I believe, ever laugh in derision. The partial closure of the eyelids, as Duchenne 2 insi ts, or the turning away of the eyes or of the whole Locly, are likewise highly expressive of disdain. These actions seem to declare that the despised person is not worth looking at, or is disagreeable to behold. The accompanying photograph (Plate V. ng. 1) by Mr. l{ejlander, shows this form of disdain. It represents a young lady, who is supposed to be tearing up the photograph of a despised lover. The most common n1ethod of expressing contempt is by movem nts about the nose, or round the mouth; but tb latter mov ments, wh n strongly pronounced, indicate li gu t. The nose n1ay be slightly turned up, which apparently follows from the turning up of' tho upper lip; or the movement may be abbreviated into 2 ' I>llysionomio Humaino,' Album, Lcgendc viii . . p. 35. Gratiolet abo speaks (Do la I hyfl. 1865, p. 52) of the turning away of tho eye~ u.wl body. · |