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Show 260 CHAP. Xl. f d. c.t The tendency to expressive movements o Isgut::i · . h 1 , t h f· fetid odour is immediately strengt enec Ie c rom a . f b b't thouo-h in a curious manner by some degree 0 a I ' b soon lost by longer familiarity wit~ the caus~ of·~!~~~ and by voluntary restraint. For Instance, b WI . ff' clean the skeleton of a bird, which had not een su 1- ciently macerated, and the smell made ~y servant an~\ myself (we not having had much expenence In sue l work) retch so VI.O 1e n tly , th a t we were com. pelled to desist. During the previous days I had examined so~e other skeletons which smelt slightly; yet the odour did not in the least affect me, but, subsequently for several days, whenever I handled these same skeletons, they made me retch. . From the answers received from my cor~espondents It appears that the various. movements, which. have n~w been described as expressing contempt and disgust, prevail throughout a large part of the world. Dr. R?thro?k, for instance, answers with a decided affirmative '~1 th respect to certain wild Indian tribes of N o~th Amen.ca. Crantz says that when a Greenlander . denies a.ny?Ing with contempt or horror he turns up his nose, and bives a slight sound through it.9 Mr. Scott has sen~ me a graphic description of the face of a young H1ndoo at the sight of castor-oil, which he was co1npelled occasi~ nally to take. Mr. Scott has also s~en the san1e expression on the faces of high-caste natlves who !1ave approached close to some defiling object. Mr. Bnd?es says that the Fuegians "express contempt by shoot~ng " out the lips and hissing throug~ them, and by turm~g " up the nose." The tendency either to snort throug:1 the nOic, or to make a noise expressed by ugh or ach, IS noticed by several of my correspondents. Spitting sce1ns an almost universal ~gn of contempt 11 Ati quoteu by '£;,101·, 'Primitive Culture,' 1871, vol. i. P· 169. CHAP. XI. DISGUST. 261 or disgust; and spitting obviously represents the rejfction of anythi11g ofTen. ive from the mouth. halrsp arc 1nakes the Duke of Norfolk say, "I spit at him-c't ll " him a . lnnd r u c ward and a villain." So ao·ain ' b ' Falstaff says, '' T ll thee what, Hal,-if I tell th e a " lie, spit in my face." Leichhardt remarks that th Au tralians "interrupt d their speeches by Rpitting, and " uttering a noise like pooh ! pooh! apparently expre - " ive of their disgust." And Captain Burton speaks of certain negroes "spitting with disgust upon the " ground.'' 1° Captain Speedy informs me that this i Jikewise the cnse with the Abyssinians. Mr. G a h says that with the Malays of Malacca the expressi n of disgust "answers to spitting from the mouth;" and ~:·ith the. Fuegi~ns, according to Mr. Bridges "to spit · at one Is the highest mark of contempt." I never saw disgnst more plainly expressed than on the face of one of my infants at the age of :five months, when, for the ilrst tin1e, some cold water, and again a month afterwards, when a piece of ripe cherrv was put into his mouth. ~rhis was shown by the lips and whole mouth assuming a shape which allowed the contents to run or fall quickly out; the tongue bein()' likewise protruded. These movements were accom~ paniccl by a little shudder. It was all the more comical , as I doubt whether the child felt real disgust-the eyes and forehead expressing much surprise and consideration. The protrusion of the tongue in lettinO' a nasty object fall out of the mouth, may explain how it is that Jolling ont the tongue universally serves a.-:; a sign of rontempt. and hatred.11 ----------------- 10 Both these quotations are given by Mr. II. Weclgwood, 'On tl1o Origin of Language,' 186G, p. 75. 11 T~is is .... tntecl to be tho caso by 1\fr. TyJor (En.rJy IIi t. of 1\fo.nkincl, 2ncl cltt. 18t0, p. 52); and he adds, "it is not cl o.r wily thi~ sho11l<l L so." |
